


Aquamarine

by lala_pipo



Category: SHINee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mermaids, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:08:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 44,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26025484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lala_pipo/pseuds/lala_pipo
Summary: Taemin is a merman who lives at the coast of Jeju Island. Despising humans and finding them bothersome, a chance encounter with one on his 23rd birthday changes his life forever.
Relationships: Lee Jinki | Onew/Lee Taemin
Comments: 22
Kudos: 61
Collections: Summer of SHINee Round 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Dear reader,  
> Thank you for clicking on this story. Last year I participated in this fest by turning Taemin into a siren. Since in modern language usage the word siren is often used as a synonym for mermaid this caused a bit of a confusion. When I've spoken to some people about my prompt last year, they all went like "OMG YOU ARE WRITING A TAEMIN MERMAID STORY!!!!" only to be disappointed when I had to point out that in Greek mythology sirens are seen as a mix of human and bird and not human and fish. 
> 
> BUT here we are now in 2020 and I actually turned Taemin into a mermaid! ^^ I always wanted to write a mermaid story and I'm so happy that I can cross this out on my 'writing bucket list'. I'm also happy that I managed to choose a different SHINee ship for every fest I participated in so far. My soft spot for OnTae is gigantic. ^^
> 
> I did give the mermaid myth a little spin in this story to make it more interesting for me. Originally, this was planned as a very short and sweet oneshot, but I should have known that my brain doesn't work like that. As for Taemin's character in the story, I didn't want to include grammatical errors in his speech on purpose because that makes it harder to read, but the language he uses is quite simple, and while writing him I imagined Taemin speaking the way he does when he tries to speak English and I advise you to do the same. ^^
> 
> Thanks to the prompter for sending in this prompt, I did get a little sidetracked with this, but I hope you will still like the outcome. 
> 
> Also thank you to the lovely Adele who read through this story beforehand.
> 
> Cara Adele, grazie mille per aver letto la mia storia. Grazie anche per le tue parole gentili e il tuo supporto! Ti mando abbracci dalla Germania. ❤ 
> 
> Last but not least, thank you to the lovely people from the Summer of 5HINee team for organizing another fic fest. It's always fun from going to prompting, choosing a prompt, and writing one. ^^
> 
> Original prompt:  
> Taemin is a mermaid who likes to mess with humans/couples who profess love confessions by his sea side and constantly annoy him. until one day Jinki is left there heartbroken by a breakup (or rejection) and not a confession.
> 
> Story inspired by [this Taemin](https://i.ibb.co/tbxCxT0/tumblr-nqf3nnu-K3-E1rsfd76o1-1280.jpg) and [this Jinki](https://i.ibb.co/S5GYpNx/Eg-Goyr-FXs-AA-I-G.jpg). 🧜

_There are love stories everyone has heard of; the names of Romeo and Juliet, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet or Tristan and Iseult evoking feelings of longing in the hearts of people who followed their journey till the end. Big stories with big words which shaped the perception of the term romance in their time. But it’s not always the dramatic prose that needs to be told, sometimes one can find the loveliest stories in the most mundane scenarios._

_Let me tell you a story so incredible that it's hard to believe. It is about an unusual friendship from which the soft bud of affection arose that eventually flourished into love. It’s about a broken heart that didn’t believe it could ever be healed again, about a chance encounter between two beings who were alien and yet so similar to one another. I want to tell you a story full of fantasy and wonder that will make your heart yearn for something genuine._

_Let me tell you the story of a merman who fell in love with a human._

**Chapter 1**

At regular intervals, the waves sloshed over the rocks in a remote little spot on the coastline of Jeju Island, rising tentatively only to be cut by their sharp edges and returning to the sea as white glittering foam. The sun was low in the sky, only a half circle left on the horizon, surrounded by a play of pink and purple hues and enveloped by a few clouds, which followed the course of the sun like a herd of sheep their shepherd. The sea gleamed in places where the sun hit the water, a collection of intangible stars given to the sea by the night sky. Many would have described this sight as beautiful and idyllic, a piece of heaven on earth, a place where one could escape the difficulties of everyday life and come to rest and find peace.

From Taemin's point of view, this was exactly the problem. The shore he visited to be alone, to escape the mocking and staring of the others, to listen to the sound of the sea, was no longer just his refuge. Despite the remoteness of the place and its difficult access due to the cliffs rising from the water like long-forgotten monuments, lovestruck people strayed to the rock jetty at the bottom to confess their love to each other right before sunset. Taemin had often heard the word _'romantic'_ fall from red tinted lips as they were about to be placed on others. He had never understood the sentiment of people placing their mouths onto each other to share something they called a ‘ _kiss’_ , the sea people using their mouths for the intake of food only. The sight of the exchange of body fluids between two-legged beings made him uncomfortable. To express affection, the people of the sea put their foreheads together and placed their hands on each other’s cheeks, a gesture so intimate that it was only shared between close family members. Community was important to the sea people to heighten their chance of survival, but the concept of love was a foreign one, a bond between two people non-existent, the sea-folk only coming together methodically to propagate each year during spring. 

It was one of those nights when two young humans sat closely together on the flat stone blocks at the foot of the cliffs and held hands, looking at each other tenderly. Taemin was leaning against a boulder not far from the two lovebirds, chewing on seaweed as he reluctantly followed their conversation. Their words, he understood, but the meaning behind them gave him a headache and made him feel disgusted. 

“Sooji, we have known each other for so long now, and – I feel a lot for you. I like you very much, you know? And I – and I brought you here today to ask if you want to be my girlfriend?”

The young merman grimaced and looked almost repelled by the words, silently imitating the girl’s joyful voice, who overzealously fell around the young man’s neck and began to cry. He peeked from behind the rock, saw the two people kissing as they whispered sweet nothings, and almost threw up, taken aback by so much closeness and intimacy. Taemin just wanted to rest, lie with his back against the warm stones, dip his tailfin into the water, and watch the sunset while eating seaweed or small snails. However, due to emotional nature of humans, this had become an almost impossible task, and even a change of location hadn’t helped, the whole island filled with humans who wanted to confess their love to one another by the sea like a colony of algae, which spread over the ocean’s surface during summer. 

The only way he could regain the tranquility of his safe harbor at the cliffs was to spoil people’s fun in the hope they would never come back again. Sometimes he collected algae and sea snails and threw them at the disturbers, joyful every time a human jumped up with a disgusted screech and left. Sometimes, he let himself slide into the sea and dive through the water until he showed up behind their backs, only to splash water at them with his fin over and over again, his body so nimble, his movements so quick that he could dive right back into the water without the chance of being discovered. That night, it gave him great pleasure to splash the young woman with water and watch her clothes stick to her skin, the make-up on her face running down her cheeks. The two humans immediately broke apart from each other when the first load of water hit them. A choked sound escaped the young woman’s mouth, whose long, black hair was plastered wetly to her forehead. Taemin grinned as her face twisted in shock and she patted her new boyfriend on the chest, lamenting that he had chosen a bad place to confess to her, that her neatly put on make-up was ruined. Her anger increased so much that Taemin happily swam in circles and made his tailfin hit the surface of the water once more only to increase her anger. The second load of water caused the young woman to jump up in revulsion with her handbag being soaked and she began her way back up to the meadow at the top of the cliffs, her boyfriend hurriedly following after her, begging her pardon and asking her to calm down.

For Taemin, it was the greatest joy to joke around with humans, who were in love, because he didn't understand them, didn't understand how they acted so stupidly. When the voices of the humans had finally faded in the distance, the young merman placed his hands onto the rocks and lifted himself out of the water to lie on them, enjoying how the sun heated stones warmed his bare back while his purple fishtail sprinkled with specks of gold dabbled in the water. He crossed his arms behind his head and stared up at the sky, saw the first stars appear, and thought about his life and the fragility of his existence. The sea-folk believed that every star in the sky contained the soul of a living being and that after death one ascended to find a spot at the firmament and shine for the living who had lost their way in this world to guide them home safely. Taemin wasn't sure what his home was anymore, his fin having him carried through the sea for years to discover one place after another, the closest spot that resembled one being Jeju Island. 

He often fell asleep under the starry night sky, drifted peacefully on the water, only to be awakened by the first rays of sunshine the next day that spurred him on to look for food. Taemin was considered an outsider by his kind and was often crookedly eyed by other sea people when he showed up at the colony he had been born in and wore new jewelry that humans had lost in the sea, or when he told others that he had once again driven humans away from the island’s shores. The bigoted sea-folk did not like humans, stayed away from them, were reluctant to talk about them, their fear of getting caught in one of the countless fishing nets, and landing on a dissecting table too great.

The most well-known sea people, who had become famous in myths created by humans had been careless mermaids, who similar to Taemin, hadn’t been afraid of humans and had eventually been trapped and encaged by them. They had been exhibited in circuses and dismantled on tables for the sake of what humans called science, caged in small dark places without dignity like mere animals. It had taken the sea-folk centuries to extinguish the certainty of their existence from the minds of humans and let mermaids degenerate into nothing more than beautiful, mysterious creatures in fairytales told by drunken sailors. For that to happen the sea-folk had given up what they had valued the most - their freedom, as they had completely withdrawn from harbors and the mainland. However, young sea people like Taemin was one who, despite all the dangers, swam close to the coastline and even climbed out of the water, were a thorn in the eyes of the older ones who had fought long and hard for the survival of their species. Taemin had been forbidden multiple times to approach the shore when he was younger, but after he had come of age and was able to follow his own rules, he had no longer stuck to the bans, had ignored them completely as he loved to watch the sunset and listen to the waves too much as to care about the possible consequences of his behavior.

Oftentimes, he was bored when he swam alone through the sea and chased fish, wished for a real friend to talk to, even the fright and annoyance of humans no longer as satisfying as it used to be. The only friend he had was a starfish he had named Byeol who he often visited on the ocean floor near the cliffs. He sometimes fed him mussels, stroked the red, rough surface of his small body, and considered Byeol as something that humans would most likely call a pet. The starfish was easily recognizable by the lack of one of his legs, but even Byeol couldn’t satisfy Taemin's wish for a friend, a true friend, the starfish’s existence a silent and languid one.

The story I want to share begins on Taemin’s 23rd birthday on a warm, sunny day in the middle of July, the encounter with a mere human that day changing his life forever, and never letting him return to be the merman he used to be.

The young merman had collected some particularly beautiful shells and fresh seaweed to bask at the shore in the evening light and looked forward to watch the sunset and spend his birthday by himself. However, he had been excited too soon, his eyes catching sight of a figure sitting by the cliffs when he swam closer to the island. Gritting his teeth, he silently sneaked up on them, the outlines of a young man with ashy pink hair, who absently looked down at a small, open box in his hands becoming clear to Taemin. The man smiled pensively and when Taemin caught a glimpse of the box, he saw a silver ring sitting in the middle of it. Rolling his eyes in disapproval, he slid back into the water and found his usual hiding spot behind a rock. A _marriage proposal_ – the type of confession he hated the most. He had heard the word ‘ _marriage’_ many times, even though he had never fully understood its meaning. People seemed to be using the ring to tie themselves to another person and to be with them forever. Taemin wasn't sure if the ring hid magic, a spell that prevented the person wearing it from walking away again.

The young man seemed excited and full of anticipation, constantly glancing over to the path leading away from the cliffs as if he was waiting for someone. Taemin kept an eye on him, watching him silently sit on the rocks in a white t-shirt and brown shorts, legs crossed in front of him. The legs of humans always amused Taemin. They looked so pitiful and meager as if someone had forgotten to wrap them in scales and put a tailfin on them. He had seen humans swim quite often, their movements slow and clumsy as they struggled through the water, often using tools like funny-looking plastic fins to make them faster. Taemin pricked up his ears when he heard footsteps come closer and he sank deeper into the water until his nose touched the surface to not reveal his hiding spot.

“There you are,” said the man sitting on the stones in a sing-song. The person who joined him was another man, about the same age, slimmer, his hair dyed in a platinum blonde. He looked dainty and seemed unhappy to be at the cliffs, his steps cautious and awkward as he stumbled over the rocks in a pair of black leather shoes with small heels.

“Couldn't you have chosen another place? Like the sandy beach on the other side of the island?”

The young man’s voice was melodic, reminded Taemin of a song. The man reluctantly settled down next to the other, looked around, and brushed small stones from his black pants. The one with the ashy pink hair rubbed his head sheepishly and beamed, hiding the small box with the ring behind his back. Taemin was already preparing for a long monologue in which the man with the pink hair would tell the man with the blond hair how happy he was to be with him, how happy he was that he had him in his life, that he had never met a person with whom he could be the way he was, that he did not want their paths to ever separate. Taemin had heard so many marriage proposals in his life that he might be able to make one up himself on the spot without even knowing the person in front of him. Humans always used the same words, maybe packaged differently, but essentially the same. Their speeches were boring and predictable just like the humans themselves were.

“The beach is always full of people. It’s quieter here. I wanted to be alone with you.”

The young merman was already thinking about what he could do to drive today’s lovers away and imagined with amusement how the man with the blond hair would probably not like his clothes to be drenched in seawater.

“You said you wanted to tell me something?” The blond man shifted nervously on the rock and to Taemin he looked as if he was uncomfortable, as if he wanted to be anywhere but near the water. He emitted a different aura than the man next to him, looked stressed and rushed as if he had too little time and too much to do. The young man with the ashy pink hair appeared very different, calmer, and more relaxed, with a hint of anticipation lingering in his eyes, as if he couldn't wait to reveal the ring and propose in a scenic, rehearsed speech. “I wanted to tell you something, too,” the man continued, clasping his hands in his lap, playing nervously with his fingers.

“Okay – you are welcome to start.”

The man smiled at the other, teeth white like the pearls in a shell. Taemin found it strange that one of them seemed so happy while the other wore an expression on his face that Taemin had never seen on anyone coming down to the water for confessions and proposals before.

“Yes, I just don't know where to start, Jinki,” the blond one beat around the bush and took a deep breath, visibly undecided on how to continue his sentence. The man named Jinki put one hand on the other’s knee, apparently trying to reassure him, but he seemed to be doing the exact opposite, and the man next to him seemed to be getting more and more distressed, squirming around. “You know I like you, Jinki, _right_? We have known each other for so long, we have been together for so long,” he began hesitantly while the other agreed with a nod. “It’s – we came to Jeju because of your job and I know you like it here, but –.”

The young man paused again and ran his hands through his hair, his expression disheartened and thoughtful. The other man looked as if he began to notice that something was wrong and the smile on his face gradually disappeared. A brooding look took its place, his mouth drawn into a fine line.

“Jonghyun, what are you trying to say?”

“I want to go home, Jinki. I want to go back to Seoul, I miss my family, my friends, and the city. Since we’ve been here, we’ve only been living side by side. We didn’t even travel to this place together. It’s not how I imagined to be, Jinki, and I can hardly imagine that it is what you imagined either. We hardly talk to each other anymore.”

Taemin saw the man with the dusty pink hair swallow and he was sure that he had seen the exact moment when the human’s heart had been broken into two. He had seen people whose feelings hadn’t been returned before, but he had never seen someone’s heart being broken right before a marriage proposal. The emotion was rawer, more tangible, cut right through one's skin like sharks' teeth. 

“What are you trying to say?” The young man’s voice was weak and Taemin could barely hear it over the sound of the waves.

“I want to say that I think it is better if we go our separate ways. I - _I_ just can’t imagine a future with you anymore – not here – _not_ anywhere really.”

“What does that mean? Are you breaking up with me?”

Taemin’s breath got caught when the man with the blond hair nodded with a lowered head. It didn't seem to be difficult for him, but Taemin was sure that it was something that man had thought about for a long time. He wondered how different human emotions could be if one wanted to marry the other while the other wanted to end the relationship. The sea-folk's emotions weren't that complex, mainly focused on the survival and protection of their colonies. The emotions of an individual weren't seen as important, not worth paying attention to. 

“I’m really sorry.”

Taemin watched the two humans sit quietly next to each other, apparently having nothing to say to one another anymore. He had seen humans being angry after they had been rejected, had seen humans storm off, had seen humans ask hundreds of questions, most of them starting with a ‘ _Why_?’, he had seen so many scenarios, but silence had never been a part of it. 

“You wanted to tell me something as well?” the blond man sounded cautious as if he was surrounded by sharks that were just waiting to attack him. The other one shook his head, forcing his lips to curl upwards, which looked so fake that even Taemin noticed it.

“It wasn’t important.”

The blond-haired man slowly rose from the stones and wiped the dirt off his jeans, Taemin’s plan to annoy the two discarded as he was too stunned by the turn of events. He had expected them to kiss as humans did and lie in each other’s arms _as humans did_ , and not witness the end of a relationship right in front of his eyes. 

“Are you coming back? Maybe we can talk more about it at home?”

The man with the pearly white teeth shook his head. “I’ll come later. If you don’t mind, I – _I_ want to be alone for a bit. To think.”

The man nodded with a hum and then disappeared without a word, leaving the other one behind as he walked back up the stony path. Taemin was still not sure what he had observed, but a loud sob made him listen up. The young man with the dusty pink hair was crying. Thick tears ran down his cheeks and seeped into his white t-shirt as soon as the other had vanished. He pulled out the small box with the ring and took it out, twisted it in his hand, clasped his fingers tightly around it until his knuckles turned white and then, all of a sudden, he rose his arm and threw the ring far out into the sea. Taemin watched after it until it disappeared inside the water before focusing back on him.

It was the first time in his life that Taemin felt something like pity for a human. He couldn’t explain why, usually found it humorous when people were rejected or got their hearts broken, but the sight of the young man unleashed something similar to sympathy deep inside of him. He had looked so happy and excited less than half an hour ago, but all of this seemed to have disappeared as he sat on the stones with his legs drawn up.

Taemin wasn’t sure what to do, whether to just swim away and come back the next day in the hope he would be alone for once, or whether he should stay. He felt uneasy watching someone, who looked so vulnerable and fragile as if a single gust of wind could pull him down and break him. He wanted to say something, but he had never spoken to a human, wasn’t even sure how to start a conversation with one. All the humans he had ever listened to had been in love, his vocabulary filled with expressions of love and flattering words to charm someone.

He released air into the water and small bubbles formed in front of his mouth as he pondered about what to do, and examined the other in silence. The young merman knew it was wrong to speak to humans, but he felt sorry for the man, truly sorry. Slowly and carefully he came out from behind the rock and moved closer to the other, who didn’t even notice that he was being watched, his face hidden behind his hands. Taemin’s heart was pounding in his chest as he looked for the right words, not sure if he knew some to express his compassion, the human language not his mother tongue, one that he only had learned passively over the years.

“You are sad.” The words felt strange in his mouth as if his lips weren’t made to shape the sounds, lacking muscle memory, the sound of his own voice echoing in his ears. He recoiled when the human’s head shot up and stared at him, Taemin startled, uneasiness rising in his gullet when their eyes met. He blinked, wanted to dive back into the water and hide, but stilled when the man opened his mouth and answered him with a simple, exhausted, “Yes, I am.”

The man didn’t even seem to question why a stranger in the water talked to him, seemed indifferent almost apathetic instead, Taemin wondering if the magic of the ring had been broken by being thrown into the water and the blond-haired person would never return. 

“I am sorry,” Taemin said a little clumsily, tongue-twisting around in his mouth. The sea-folk didn’t communicate verbally, but used a sonar system similar to dolphins, their tongues and teeth only utilized to eat and taste food. Taemin had practiced speaking by talking to Byeol after finding out that his mouth was capable of forming words, but his one-sided conversations hadn’t established much of a routine nor a safe usage of the human language, his words sounding inelegant and rehearsed. 

“For what?” 

The human had kind eyes, a dark, warm brown that reminded Taemin of driftwood that had been washed up at the coast. The merman had only seen his own eyes once in his life when he had barely been ten and had found a round reflective disc on the ground of the sea that humans put on the stinking sheet metal monstrosities that carried them around the island. His eyes similar to his fishtail were purple, a soft lilac with specks of gold so very different to the eyes of the man sitting on the rocks in front of him. 

Taemin thought hard about what to say, frowning a little. “For listening?” 

The man wiped the tears out of his face a little roughly and Taemin watched him intently. Humans were so funnily built, looked so much like sea people, and yet completely different as if someone had misplaced the blueprint halfway in and had to improvise on the rest of their bodies. 

“Do you lurk around here often to eavesdrop on people?” 

Taemin blinked and cocked his head, the question confusing him. Neither was he lurking nor eavesdropping, humans came to his part of the island and not the other way around after all. 

“No,” he answered simply, the word ‘ _No’_ having been one of the first he had learned, liking the way it sounded and how easy it was to say. There was so much meaning behind this simple word. 

“How old are you that you talk so informally to me?” 

He had never heard that word before. He tested it out on his tongue, said it out loud, questioning, blinking at Jinki whose forefinger ran beneath his eyes and collected tears. 

“23,” Taemin said carefully, not wanting to mention that it was his birthday today. His fingers held onto the stones in front of him, the waves weighing his body in the water, strands of wavy, shoulder-length hair sticking to his face as he watched the man with the ashy pink hair. He had seen that color on corals before, but it was a rare sight, Taemin fascinated by the way the wind brushed through the strands, tousling it as if an invisible hand combed through it. 

“I’m 26 already, so I’m the older one.” The man’s shoes slipped over the rocks and made a scratching sound, Taemin looking up at the white sneakers. Shoes were something humans wore to not hurt themselves, something that only confirmed Taemin’s assumption that humans had been created insufficiently. Feet were useless and couldn’t even protect themselves from harm, needed human-made machinery to do so while Taemin’s long, sturdy tail was muscular, protected him against the cold and moved him around swiftly through the water, never tiring out. 

“Ok.” 

Taemin swallowed and bit his lip, not sure what else to say because he didn’t know what the other had wanted to tell him by letting him know his age. To the sea-folk age didn’t matter, it was the strength and wisdom that decided one’s position in a colony, how someone could protect the others from danger, or share their knowledge to prevent humans from discovering them. With his two feet and small stature, the man didn’t look very powerful to Taemin.

Not minding the silence, Taemin found it exciting enough to just stare at the man and find similarities and differences in their bodies, never having been able to see a human up that close before without trying to hide from them. But the man in front of him seemed to disagree, seemingly not liking the fact that a stranger blatantly looked at him while he was crying, a frown appearing on his face when he caught the other's gaze. 

“Aren’t you getting cold from staying in the water for so long?” 

“No,” Taemin shook his head, “We love water.”

“We?” The man tilted his head, Taemin only noticing his mistake when confusion became apparent on the other’s features. He shouldn’t have mentioned that there was a ‘ _we’_ , but then again he didn’t care much about letting one person know about the sea-folk’s existence. It was unlikely that anyone would believe a man whose heart had just been broken. He hesitated nonetheless, blinking as he pondered and tried to remember what humans called them. 

“Mermaids,” he said eventually, recalling a young man who had tried to tell his girlfriend a scary story about mermaids coming out of the water at night to eat people so she would lean into him and he could hug her. Taemin had splashed the two with a lot of water that night, feeling disrespected and falsely represented. 

The man’s eyes widened noticeably and he was the one staring at Taemin now before he began to chuckle, the sound a little raw and breathless from being choked up. “Of course! Nice to meet you, mermaid. I’m a wood fairy.”

“Fairy?” Taemin had never heard that word, not understanding why the man was laughing. He hadn’t expected a human to laugh when he revealed his identity. 

The human fell silent when Taemin didn’t laugh along with him and looked at him quizzically instead. 

“Are you a foreign exchange student from Japan or China by any chance?” 

Taemin had heard about these countries before but was more familiar with the seas bordering them. He had also no idea what a ‘ _foreign exchange student’_ was supposed to be. Until now the young merman had thought that he had familiarized himself quite well with the human language, but the man looking down at him used words whose meaning he clearly didn’t understand. One could only get so far in learning a language through listening to humans turn on the blarney. 

“I am from the sea,” he answered naturally, not wanting to be confronted with more words he didn’t know. This time he lifted himself further out of the water until the first scales of his fishtail sitting low on his hips became apparent in the evening light, the golden specks reflecting in the last rays of sunlight touching the surface of the water, the tip of his fin peeking out, greeting the man by tentatively swaying from left to right. 

Taemin had never seen anyone’s eyes protrude in such an exaggerated fashion before, not even his mother’s when they had been followed by sharks in his childhood. The man’s mouth fell open and he began to stutter, appearing to have lost the ability to form coherent sentences. He helplessly pointed at Taemin, his tears dried up, the skin underneath his lower lash line a pinkish red and slightly swollen. 

“That can’t be,” was the first thing the man finally found the courage to say, Taemin shrinking back when the human suddenly darted forward, coming way too close. It was rude to come someone this close without knowing them, sea people valuing their personal space. “Is that one of those fishtails you can buy online? It looks so realistic.”

 _Online_. Another word Taemin couldn’t pin down, frustration slowly building up as he hovered in the water, the movements of his fishtail underneath the surface keeping him afloat. 

“I do not know what this means. _Online_. You speak – weirdly.” 

“And you are still talking informally to me.”

The man crouched at the edge of the water, embracing his knees as he looked over at Taemin, who was tempted to give the man a little push so he would fall into the sea.

“I do not know what that means either. _Invonmaly_ ,” Taemin parroted the word, having a hard time forming the word with his mouth. He sank deeper into the water until only his head peeked out, liking the comfort of the sea surrounding him, the small waves splashing against his cheeks. It was a soothing feeling, almost like a mother’s lullaby. 

The man seemed skeptical, looking small as he squatted on the rocks, his legs bent in half, his chin propped up in his hands. 

“The way people talk to each other – the words change depending on how close they are to one another – what status they have, what age, you understand?” the man spoke in a soft voice, his demeanor reminding Taemin of a squishy flapjack octopus he had seen near the coast of Japan once. The merman nodded shyly, finding humans more fascinating by the minute. How bored with their life must they be to create different ways of speaking? 

“I only know how to speak like this,” he murmured, the heart in his chest fluttering when the man on the stones smiled at him. It was a very disarming smile, humans would probably have called it charming. 

“That’s okay.” 

They looked at each other for a moment, Taemin being the one who was slightly uneasy now, not knowing what else to say, wondering if his first conversation with a human would also be his last. 

“So you are a mermaid – or shall I say merman?” The man asked curiously and sat back down, crossing his legs, the position he had been in apparently too uncomfortable to stay in it for long. He leaned forward to dip his fingers into the water, twirling them around, splashing around a little bit, eyes staying on Taemin. 

“I think so. Are you –,” Taemin looked for the right word, looking up at the sky with a frown as he thought hard. “What do you call it? _Scared_?”

The chuckle wafting over to him was light and friendly and Taemin decided that he liked the sound of it, his skin shuddering pleasantly. 

“No – Surprised? Yes. Scared? No. I always found it weird that so many cultures have legends about you. Hard to believe that’s mere coincidence. Never thought I would meet one in real life though.” 

Taemin didn’t know the word ‘ _culture’_ , but he had heard the word ‘ _legend’_ before. The sunlight was almost completely gone now, their bodies dipped in a bluish-gray, Taemin’s eyes having no problem to see well in the dark, and he wondered if human eyes worked the same way. When the man pulled something out of his pocket he was curious at first but fearfully shied away when a sudden beam of light hit him and hurt his eyes. 

“Oh, I’m sorry.” With that the light was directed away from him, the small piece of plastic it had come from, which Taemin had learned years ago was a phone that humans used to communicate, finding its way on the rocks next to the man. “I just can’t see anything in the dark. I didn’t want to scare you.” 

Taemin squinted his eyes and inched closer again, the power of the waves underneath him intensifying. The flood tide would be coming soon and drown the rocks around the cliffs. It was dangerous for humans to stay that long after nightfall. 

“You should leave. The water is already rising.” 

The man looked around himself and began to nod, pointing his phone around to watch the surrounding rocks. 

“You’re right,” he sighed, “It’s a pity though, you were a good distraction from real life.” 

With a groan, he got up, stretched his limbs and Taemin heard the joints of the human cracking, watched him attentively. Part of him was sad that their meeting had ended so soon. The man with the ashy pink hair had been a nice change from the ordinary human visitors, who usually came down to the bottom of the cliffs. He wondered if the man would go to the blond man now, if they would talk to each other again. Talking seemed to be something that humans loved to do, they shared their feelings and thoughts, something that was unusual for the sea people. They were more pragmatic, communicated only the most crucial matters.

Taemin watched the man silently, exhausted from speaking and listening, and swam closer to the stones to support himself and look up at the stranger.

“It was nice meeting you.” The man smiled at him, holding the phone to the right so its light fell into the water and did not dazzle Taemin.

“Are you still sad?” Taemin asked as he rose a bit from the sea, the water bouncing off his navel. A warm, light laugh reached his ears which resonated all over his body down to the tip of his tail.

“Yes, I still am.”

“I am sorry.”

The man shrugged and shoved one of his hands into the pocket of his pants. “You have nothing to be sorry for. Maybe finding true love is just not something life has in store for me.”

 _True love_. Taemin had heard that expression many times. It was mainly used by men who wanted to court women. _‘You are my one true love’_ they said. The sea people did not believe in love, least of all in true love, considered humans primitive and backward for this reason because they let themselves be guided by their feelings and often lost their minds in the process of following their hearts.

“Good night.” The man raised his hand in farewell and Taemin did the same, it was a simple gesture he had often practiced with Byeol. He looked after the man, who stopped halfway and turned back to face him with the phone light directed at the stones. “Maybe we’ll see each other again.”

“Maybe,” Taemin repeated, quietly following the other, wanting to make sure the man didn’t fall into the water in the dark, because he wasn’t cautious enough. He couldn’t follow him far, looked after him thoughtfully as the man walked up the steep, rocky path along the cliffs, the light always cast at his feet. Soon enough the man was only a small dot, but Taemin could see the light cone for a long time until it eventually faded as well, leaving Taemin alone.

He dived down into the water then, swam against the waves, pushed himself against the current with strong strokes, and followed a school of fish further out into the sea. He had spoken to a human for the first time in his life. Part of him was delighted, excited, and inspired, but another, much larger part was sad and gloomy, because he didn’t know if he would ever get the chance to see that human again. Only people in love sought out the cliffs to confess their feelings to each other, but this man’s heart had been broken. There was no reason for him to return. He looked for the ring the other had thrown into the sea, searched for it on the ground of the sea, tried to remember where he had seen it hit the surface. It took him a while to find it, but then he spotted it, small and unremarkable it lay in the sand next to a stone, the sparkly silver calling out for him. He was drawn to it, picked it up carefully, and turned it around in his hand. There was an engraving inside of it that Taemin couldn’t read, the ring fitting perfectly on his forefinger. He stretched out his hand to take a proper look at it, amazed by the beautiful simplicity of it, wondering if he had unknowingly sealed a bond with the human which hadn’t been his to make. Away from prying eyes he would store it away, keep it safe with all the other treasures humans had willingly or unwillingly lost in the sea. 

With a running start, Taemin shot up from the sandy bottom and broke through the surface of the sea, flew up into the air, enjoyed the fresh, cool wind of the night against his bare skin, and then dived back into the water with his arms stretched out, eyes constantly falling onto the ring on his finger. Taemin had opposed all warnings and had spoken to a human, was proud of himself. He swam far into the ocean that night, restless, not able to fall asleep, thinking about the human, recalling his pleasant laugh. He hoped that the man would be okay again, that his heart would be able to heal, and soon we will see that Taemin was in luck and would get a chance to talk to the human with the ashy pink hair again. 


	2. Chapter 2

A day passed, and then another one without a sign of the human the young merman Taemin had talked to. Every day right before sunset he would swim back to the cliffs and be on the _qui vive_ for the human, hoping to the see the shock of dusty pink hair again and hear the charming laugh that had rattled him to the core. But the human stayed absent.

Out of frustration and spite the usual friendly and cunning merman began to frighten the humans, who dared to descend to the bottom of the cliffs even more than he used to, stubbornly splashing buckets of waters at them until the humans and the rocks around them were drenched in seawater and using small, edgy stones to throw at the lovebirds instead of snails, shooing everyone away. Every time he heard footsteps nearing, his pulse quickened and he took a glimpse at the stony path leading up, hoping to see a familiar face looking for him, only to be let down once again when his eyes fell on young couples, giggling and holding hands as they made their way towards him. 

This circle of hope and disappointment repeated itself for seven sunsets, the young merman almost having given up faith in ever seeing the human again when on the eighth day he returned, carrying a small backpack. Taemin watched him from his spot behind a rock, heart excitedly beating in his chest, his tailfin impatiently swaying left and right underneath the surface of the water, wanting to dash forward and greet the other. The man settled down at the tip of the natural rock jetty and calmly took off his shoes to dip his feet into the sea, the water playfully licking at his skin, splashing up to his knees. He sat there quietly, leaned back on his stretched out arms, and bathed his face in the sunlight. Taemin wasn’t sure what to do, eyes cautiously looking up the path, almost expecting the blond-haired man to eventually come down as well, but the human with the nice laugh didn’t seem to wait for him, eyes directed at the sea, his face tinged in the golden glow of the setting sun. 

Gathering courage, Taemin eventually came out of his hiding spot and dived into the sea, seeing the human’s feet dangling in the water as he resurfaced right next to them, the human wincing and putting his hand on his chest in surprise before a smile appeared on his face. 

“There you are,” he said softly, “I was wondering whether you would show up again.” 

Taemin blinked up at the man, fingers holding onto the rocks in front of him. The man wore a black t-shirt with a scary-looking mask on it. The young merman had noticed early on that humans had a peculiar way of dressing themselves, wearing extravagant prints and colorful items that would make it so easy for predators to spot them in the sea. He had often wondered why they wore clothes at all, what they tried to hide behind them. The sea people tried to be as unflashy as possible to not be seen as easy prey, Taemin with his many bracelets and dangling earrings already an exception from the rule; a Mandarin fish in a tank filled with Mackerel. 

“I thought,” Taemin said and paused to think of the correct words, “You will not come back.”

“You missed me?”

There was a playful grin on the man’s lips. It was a question Taemin had often heard and which had always been answered with ‘ _Yes’_ , so he copied that script and nodded, a soft-spoken “Yes,” falling from his lips. 

The man’s eyes grew larger and he scratched his head abashedly, cocking his head.

“Well, that was blunt.” When he leaned a little closer Taemin instinctively pulled back, the man noticing his reaction and sitting straight up again. 

“You don’t talk to people often?” 

Taemin shook his head, coming a little bit closer again, hesitant and watchful. “No,” he said, happy to use his favorite word again,“You are the first one.” 

“Really?” The man seemed visibly astounded and he looked towards the sun, voicing a little,“Huh.” The young merman expected him to say something else, but he didn’t, his legs swirling slowly in the sea as the water sloshed in soft, steady waves against the rocks. 

“Are you still sad?” Taemin asked eventually, the eyes of the man falling back on him, making his breath hitch. He still wasn’t used to be looked at by humans, a natural flight reflex kicking in whenever their eyes met. 

“Yes, I’m still sad.” There was a woeful smile on the man’s face, “I don’t know if you’ve made a similar experience before, but living together with a person who used to be your everything, but then decided to dump you – is tougher than it sounds.”

Obviously, Taemin had never made a similar experience, the sea people living in colonies and not in pairs, but he nodded anyway because he thought it was the right thing to do. He hoped that the man would just continue talking without asking him questions as speaking was exhausting while listening to the calm voice of the man felt relaxing. 

“Jonghyun.” 

A sigh fell from the man’s lips as soon as the name of the blond man left his mouth, and he threaded his hands through his hair, making Taemin wonder if it felt different to the hair of the sea people. 

“The man I was with – he resigned from his job, but there is this 30 days’ notice thing which makes things super awkward. We’re living together but talking has become so awkward. I don’t even know who is more awkward. We used to share a bed and now he sleeps on the couch, and the atmosphere is just – awkward.” 

_Awkward_. The man seemed to like that word, but Taemin wasn’t sure about its meaning.

“Awkward?” he asked out loud, resting his chin on the top of a stone, liking how the sun-kissed surface warmed his skin. 

The man pressed his lips together and creased his forehead. “Yes, like – in uncomfortable? Do you know that word? It’s not a good feeling. It makes you feel confined, trapped.” He slung his arms around himself as if to explain the word with a gesture, Taemin thinking he understood the feeling well enough. He felt _awkward_ when he had to spend time with the other sea-people as well, who didn’t seem to acknowledge him as their equal as one of them, but more like a nuisance, a mutation. 

“This must not feel nice.”

With a smile on his face, the man shook his head. “No, it isn’t. And it’s –,” he took another long breath, the pink of his tongue showing as he quickly licked his lips, “I still love him. I can’t turn off my feelings just like that.” The man snapped his fingers, Taemin trying to imitate the gesture unobtrusively, his fingers too wet to make a sound. “It’s hard to be close to a person you love and accept that they don’t want to be with you anymore. I tried to talk to him, but apparently, he has decided that a breakup is the best for both of us. He’s stubborn like that – always has been. I just wished he would have talked to me sooner instead of making such a big decision by himself, you know.” 

Taemin did not know, the man in front of him having talked way too quickly in the heat of the moment, making words fly through the merman’s head, a tangle of letters that were hard for him to put into the correct order. The feeling of being lost seemed to translate on Taemin’s face, the man looking down at him apologetically. “Did I speak too quickly?” 

“A little.” 

The man bowed his head in apology. “I’m sorry. There is just a lot going on in my head right now.” He pulled one of his legs out of the water, propped it up, and embraced it with his arms, resting his chin against it, sighing once more. It was something he seemed to do often as well.

“I don’t even know your name.” He spoke slower now, which Taemin was thankful for, it made things easier for him. 

“My name is Taemin.” 

“That’s a very pretty name. Taemin. I like it.” His eyes almost disappeared completely when he smiled, Taemin liking the small crescents they had turned into, tiny wrinkles forming next to them and carving themselves into his skin. The man pointed at his chest. “My name is Jinki.”

“I know,” Taemin answered him honestly as he had heard the blond man say it before. When the man named Jinki looked at him a little confused, Taemin felt like he had to clarify, “The other man – he used it.” 

“Ah,” Jinki nodded understandingly, eyes turning small again. “Thank you for listening, Taemin. I’m sure there are more interesting things out there for you to do than listening to me.”

“No.” The word fell so easily from Taemin’s lips. “Not really.” 

Jinki began to chuckle, the familiar tingling Taemin had experienced before rushing through his body again, letting the wish of making the other laugh more often grow inside of him. 

“You're very blunt. I like that.” 

Taemin curiously watched how the other reached for the backpack and pulled out a plastic box. When he opened it, Taemin tried to take a peek, dried seaweed and ingredients he couldn’t identify coming into view.

“Do you mind if I eat here? It’s just so awkward to eat at home right now." Another sigh fell from Jinki’s lips and he pulled out a pair of longish metal sticks. Taemin had seen humans eat with them before. When the man noticed the curious glance directed at his food, he began to grin and held the container closer to Taemin who shrunk back at first only to get closer again. “Do you want to try? What do you usually eat?” 

“The things that live in the ocean,” Taemin explained, trying to figure out the contents of the plastic container. Sometimes he found those on the ground of the sea after people had carelessly thrown them away and usually he picked them up to keep his little treasures safe in them, all his containers stored away in one of his hideouts. 

“That makes sense.” Jinki picked up some whitish grains and combined them with some green and orange stuff, munching on it with a satisfied expression. “This is rice,” he suddenly began to describe. “We eat a lot of it. Like – probably way too much – almost at every meal. Those are carrots, and this yellow thing here – it’s radish. And the brownish deliciousness – that’s beef. It’s really good. It’s made out of cows. Cows are like the fish of the mainland. Maybe you have seen one before. They are quite cute actually. It’s a pity they taste so good.”

Jinki’s cheeks were filled to the brim as he spoke and pointed out the different foods in the clear plastic container, Taemin trying to memorize the names of the different components, quietly mouthing them to himself as he came nearer, his fingers only a handbreadth away from the man’s thigh.

“Can I try?” Taemin blinked up at Jinki, wanting to know what humans ate, what they liked, what flavors their food had. 

“Of course.” The man smiled at him and was about to pick something up for him with his metal sticks, but the young merman was quicker, reaching forward and grabbing some beef and rice with his bare hand, only noticing the slightly appalled look on the other’s face when he inspected the food more closely. “Yeah, I guess you can just use your hand,” Jinki said and licked his lips, his eyes wandering back and forth between the container in his hand and Taemin.

Taemin took a sniff, the saltwater around them making it hard to distinguish the smells. He hesitated for a second but then stuffed his mouth with the rice and the meat, the rice seemingly getting more and more in his mouth as he continued chewing. The beef was juicy and melted on his tongue, a flavor he had never encountered before, his taste buds caroling. His mouth tingled when his teeth squeezed more and more flavor out of the meat, different sensations dancing on his palate, the rice in his mouth long forgotten as he was busy savoring the beef. 

“Good. Very good, “ he mumbled, his tailfin twitching underwater as he swallowed, Jinki smiling at him and placing the container in front of him. 

“There you go. It’s yours then. Beef is really good, isn’t it?”

Taemin nodded enthusiastically, completely ignoring the rice in the container and taking a handful of beef instead, his fingers greased with oil and seasoning as he stuffed his mouth with meat, the young merman not able to remember having ever tasted something so good. Tiny explosions went off in his mouth, making his tailfin jerk even more excitedly, Jinki having a soft smile on his lips as he watched him eat. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone enjoy beef that much. It’s not even warm anymore.” He sniggered, sticking his propped up leg back into the water and lay back down on the stones. He crossed his arms behind his head as Taemin continued eating, the merman overwhelmed by the flavors and simultaneously fascinated by the way the other’s chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. Taemin wanted to know more about Jinki, wanted to know everything there was to know about him, but didn’t know where to start, wasn’t even sure if he had the vocabulary to ask all his questions. 

“You know, Taemin, love truly sucks. What even is the point in loving someone if they are only going to hurt you eventually? Sometimes I think there is something wrong with me.” 

Jinki had begun talking again while Taemin tried the radish and the carrots both paling in comparison to the beef. He wasn’t sure if the human expected him to answer his question. The concept of a broken heart simply didn’t exist in the world of sea people. Their lives were coined by survival, not by romance. 

“My first boyfriend's name was Kibum. I’ve met him during my freshman year in college, and he was everything I wasn’t and I loved that about him. We’ve only dated for about six months until I found out that he had been two-timing all that time. I was so disillusioned after finding out that I didn’t want to date anyone anymore – _ever_ ,” Jinki told him, eyes casted at the sky, “But then I met Jonghyun at a supermarket. Out of all places, can you believe? We’ve both reached for the last bag of rice on the shelf. He told me that he would invite me to dinner if I let him have the bag, because his mom would disown him otherwise,” the man chuckled to himself as he reminisced in old memories, Taemin desperately trying to follow his story. Despite the other speaking slower now, some words still made Taemin struggle. He had finished the beef and didn’t care much about the rest, finding seaweed tastier than rice or radish. “Jonghyun was so cute, you know. He made me think that there are still good men out there. I was so happy with him – I just – _I just_ don’t know where things went wrong. We have this saying –,” Jinki stretched his hands towards the sky, “If you love someone let them go. If they return to you it was meant to be. If they don’t, their love was never yours, to begin with. The thing is – at this point. I don’t think he will ever come back, which makes me wonder if his love was ever mine.” 

With a sigh Jinki let his arms fall to the side, his posture reminding Taemin of his friend Byeol as he lay there with outstretched arms. He wasn’t sure what to respond and just looked at his legs instead, noticing how hairy they were. Apart from the hair on their heads, eyebrows, and eyelashes the people of the sea were hairless, Taemin tempted to reach forward and touch the other’s leg to know what his skin felt like. 

“Am I boring you?” 

Taemin was startled when the word was suddenly directed at him again, Jinki’s head coming up to look at him. 

“No,” he answered quickly, swimming around the stones so he could take a better look at the man’s face. 

“It feels like I’m in therapy.” Another sigh and Jinki’s head fell back on the surface of the stone, Taemin coming up far enough so he could cross his arms on the top of the stones and rest his head on them. 

“Therapy?”

Another new word. 

“Yeah, it’s like – how to explain? Sometimes when we don’t feel well we go to someone who listens to our problems and tries to help us feel better again.” Jinki gestured around with his hands as he tried to explain the word, his face turning towards Taemin who listened to him attentively. 

“I want to help you feel better,” he replied simply, earning one of the pearly white smiles in return. 

“It’s funny – I should be the one asking you tons of questions about the life of a merman – but instead I’m chattering on about my chaotic love life. I’m not always like that. I’m sorry.” 

Another long sigh and Taemin had lost count of how many there had been already, watching the other lie on his back, finding the sight peaceful. However, when Jinki sat up Taemin looked up at him in bewilderment, not understanding what had caused the other’s sudden movement. 

“I should be going. I still have work to do,” he clarified, Taemin's heart sinking. Just the thought of not being able to possibly see the other for a few days was painful. He liked Jinki’s company, it made him feel less lonely. The other also seemed to appreciate him more than any of the sea people had ever done. Despite being a human it felt like Jinki treated him like a normal person instead of a monstrosity from the depth of the sea. 

“Are you coming back?” 

Jinki reached forward to pick up the plastic container and store it back in his backpack before he slipped into his sneaker with his wet feet. 

“Definitely.” 

“When?” 

The question made Jinki snicker and he looked at Taemin as he zipped up his bag. “On the weekend. I want to come earlier, but I have to work during the week.”

“Weekend?” 

“Yes, the time we don’t have to work. It’s two days from now. Two sunsets,” Jinki explained in his soft voice, Taemin nodding understandingly, finding two sunsets way too long. “You will be here then?” 

“I am always here.” 

Jinki smiled at him, his face painted in the last bits of light, looking extraordinarily pretty. Taemin wondered if he himself looked pretty as well when sunlight hit his skin. 

“See you then, Taemin. Take good care of yourself. It was nice talking to you again,” were the last things that left Jinki’s lips before he waved Taemin goodbye, who parroted his gesture, already feeling like the motion of his hand came off as more natural than the first time they had met. He looked after the other and said nothing, dwelled on his thoughts as he watched Jinki disappear, already looking forward to the day they would meet again. 

The young merman felt restless for the next two days, never having noticed how slowly the sun moved along the sky. Maybe you’ve waited for something badly as well once in your life, for Santa Claus to leave his presents in the living room, for the last day of school to finally arrive before the summer break, for a concert of your favorite band. Imagine wanting something so desperately and not being able to wait for it much longer, the anticipation making you feel impatient and stressed. That’s how Taemin felt. Not once in his life did he have to wait for something, his impatience leading him nowhere. He lay on the ground of the sea and watched Byeol crawl over the sand, the starfish so slow that it almost drove Taemin insane. Following a group of fish and chasing them through the water wasn’t satisfying either, Taemin being way too quick for all of them. He practiced jumps, changed his jewelry about ten times a day, no activity keeping him occupied for long, his eyes always looking out for the sun, begging it to move faster. The young merman avoided the coast, not in the mood to disrupt lovebirds and be reminded of Jinki not being there. Instead, he spent his evenings at a waterfall, the spot so secluded that humans hardly ever got there. It was a pretty place, a narrow stream leading from the ocean to it, but it was barely touched by the sun due to thick foliage covering it from all sides so it was impossible to see the sunset, which led Taemin to always go back to the cliffs and warm himself on the heated stones. 

Taemin couldn’t sleep the night before he met Jinki again, was too excited and giddy to find any rest. Swimming to the coast early in the morning after finding something to eat, he rested his back against a big boulder to hide from strangers, ears pricked up to listen to any sound. He wondered whether Jinki was as excited about them meeting again, a part of him knowing that he probably wasn’t. 

The sun had reached its highest point when Taemin finally caught sight of the man with the ashy pink hair, his tailfin jittering eagerly as he dashed forward, not even waiting for the other to reach the bottom of the cliffs. Jinki smiled when he noticed him, Taemin’s heart making a little jump. 

“I put up a sign that says ‘No entry. Danger of death!’ I hope that will keep people away,” Jinki barged right in, wearing a loose white tank top and black knee-length shorts, dark sunglasses sitting on his nose that prevented Taemin from seeing his eyes. He had never seen the other in such bright light, was bedazzled as his eyes took him in. Taemin couldn’t remember ever seeing a human so beautiful – nor a sea person for that matter. 

“How are you?” 

Taemin, who briefly had forgotten how to speak the human language, only stared at Jinki for a moment before he croaked out a, “Good. You?” and swallowed harshly. He wondered what the feeling was that made his heart flutter so much when he saw the other as he had never experienced something remotely similar before. It was a strange feeling as if he had eaten a few sea bunnies who rioted in his stomach, a peculiar sensation he couldn’t describe with a simple word. 

“It could be worse but also better.” 

Jinki sat down in front of him on the stones and opened the backpack he had carried with him, pulling out a container and holding it into Taemin’s direction. 

“I brought you beef, because you seemed to like it a lot. But also some pork and chicken for you to try. I’m sure you will like that as well,” he explained, Taemin’s mouth beginning to water at the sight. 

“Thank you.”

Taemin came nearer to the rocks in an instant, pulling himself up so he could rest his arms on the stones, indulging in the sweet sensation of getting to eat beef again. He wiggled around happily as he munched on it, his antics making Jinki chuckle, who had taken off his shoes and was now watching him intently.

“It is so good,” Taemin murmured with a full mouth, almost choking on a piece of beef when Jinki in front of him pulled his tank top over his head. 

“Are you okay?” Jinki asked immediately, looking worried, Taemin suddenly having a hard time swallowing, his eyes watering as he tried not to suffocate. That had never happened to him before. Sea people wore no clothes, neither men nor women and yet he felt startled by the sight of the naked chest in front of him.

“It is okay – _okay_.” He tried to regain his breath and looked anywhere but at Jinki. “The beef. I just – too much at once.” 

“I get that. Beef is just that good. I lose control as well sometimes.” 

When Jinki pulled down his pants as well, Taemin frowned, wondering what he was up to until the other took off his sunglasses, stood up and ran to the tip of the stones without saying a word, jumping into the ocean in a high arch, Taemin looking after him as his body broke the surface, causing water to splash everywhere even on the container with the food.

Taemin, struck by curiosity, followed him immediately, dove down into the water, and dashed forward, seeing the other swim up to the surface again in only a pair of black shorts, his muscles stirring under his pale skin as his feet and arms supported his movement. He swam up to the surface as soon as Jinki had reached it, staring at the other in awe who looked around and combed through his wet hair with a smile when he saw Taemin. 

“We’re in your element now. That’s only fair,” Jinki explained and used his arms and feet to paddle towards his backpack. He lifted himself out of the water a bit, Taemin enjoying the drops of water running down the other’s broad back. “Taemin, I don’t know if it’s rude to ask that, but I brought diving goggles and a snorkel.” He pulled out the items from his bag and showed them to Taemin. The young merman knew what they were, had seen humans wearing them before. They looked ridiculous with them. 

“Would you mind if I look at you? I mean – underwater? I would like to see your fishtail. I’m sorry if that sounds weird or is seen as rude in your culture.” 

“My fishtail?” 

Taemin blinked at the other, feeling self-conscious. He understood why humans would probably find the lower part of his body interesting, maybe the same way he found legs fascinating, but a human had never lain eyes onto his fishtail, and he didn’t know what Jinki expected to see. Maybe he would find him gruesome, repugnant – and never come back to the cliffs. 

“You sure?” he asked hesitantly.

Jinki nodded with that disarming smile on his face that caused that weird flipping motion in Taemin’s insides again.

“Okay.”

Taemin swam a few meters backward when Jinki put on the goggles and fastened the snorkel so he could breathe underwater. The second Jinki submerged into the water with his head, Taemin dove below the surface as well, standing up straight as he watched him. Having eyes on him was intimidating and he wasn’t sure what to do, Jinki’s face expressionless behind the huge goggles and the snorkel that covered his mouth. A few small fishes were swimming around him, the water so clear that the sunbeams hit the ocean’s floor, revealing all its smaller residents; the snails, starfishes, and the sea urchins, seaweed growing out of the sand. 

When Jinki made a gesture with his hand Taemin didn’t understand him right away, looking at him questioningly with his head tilted. Jinki repeated it, slower this time, his finger going in circles. As a result, Taemin pointed at himself and slowly began to twirl around himself when the other gave him a nod. It was odd to flaunt himself in front of the human at first, but he became more confident when he saw the other soundlessly clap his hands. He had learned that humans did that to applaud someone, to encourage them, and it made Taemin smile. Being braver now he swam around in eights, glided above the ground before coming up again, swimming closer to Jinki and looping around him, Taemin’s fishtail so long that it would have been easy to wrap the other up in it. 

“This is amazing.” It was the first thing that fell from Jinki’s lips after coming up to the surface again and removing the snorkel from his mouth, “You look so beautiful.”

Taemin dropped his gaze timidly, not knowing how to handle the praise since he had not received much of it while growing up. 

“You think?” 

“Yes, your movements beneath water look so elegant and graceful, and the color of your fishtail. It’s so pretty. Ariel looks like a sea monster compared to you.” 

Cocking his head, Taemin looked at the other warily. “Ariel?” 

“Ariel is a mermaid – a fictional one – not real like you. Kids love reading her story," Jinki explained, "She has a crab and a fish as a friend. The original story is kind of sad, but the Disney version is very cute and has a happy ending.”

Taemin couldn’t help but blink again, not comprehending much of the things the other told him, too many unknown words being used. Jinki smiled at him fondly when he noticed his puzzlement and finally took off the goggles from his eyes, placing them on the top of his head, a fine pushed in line following the shape of the goggles on his face.

“I can show you a clip of her singing later – in case I have phone reception here.”

The young merman nodded, not knowing what he had agreed on, weirdly excited about being in the water together with the other. A part of him wished to swim out far into the open ocean with Jinki, but he knew that humans were too weak and slow to do so, their bodies not made to overcome long distances in water without any help. 

“Do you have a crab or a fish as a friend?” Jinki asked, his hair lying tousled on his head, the ashy pink appearing a little darker and duller when wet. 

“I have Byeol.”

“Byeol?” 

Taemin nodded and then dove into the water without a warning, swimming to the floor of the sea to look for the little red starfish, carefully cupping it in both hands when he found it, telling Byeol that everything was okay and he didn’t need to worry. When he came back up, Jinki looked at him with wide eyes, Taemin holding the starfish in his hands, showing it proudly to him.

“This is Byeol,” he explained, Jinki leaning closer with a smile.

“Does it talk? Can you talk to it?”

With a frown Taemin looked at Jinki, not understanding the question. “It is a starfish. They do not speak.” 

“Oh,” Jinki scratched his head with a sheepish grin. “So you can’t communicate with the other animals living in the ocean?” 

The word _animal_ made Taemin instantly recoil and he held the starfish protectively in his hands, shielding it away from the other, keeping it close to his chest, narrowing his eyes at the human. “I am not an animal,” he said, irritated. What a rude thing to say. After all, Taemin didn’t expect Jinki to be able to speak to the animals living on land. 

“I’m sorry – I didn’t mean it like that.” The human gestured around with his arms. “That was a dumb thing to say. Insensitive. I’m sorry. Of course, you’re not an animal.” 

“You hurt me,” Taemin said and leaped back into the water without a word, carefully placing Byeol back on the sandy ground. He sat down next to him and hugged his arms around his fishtail, looking up at the surface, seeing the human’s legs clumsily paddle in the water. He had expected Jinki to be different, but maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he was like the humans who had caught mermaids in nets hundreds of years ago to exhibit them in cages where they were treated like _animals_ for other humans’ entertainment.

He averted his gaze and ignored the human when Jinki submerged his head underwater and signaled him to come back up, Taemin not wanting to talk to the human right now, staring into the sea instead. Playing around with the many bracelets on his wrists he tried to distract himself, not liking how his heart clenched in his chest, making him feel uncomfortable. Taemin didn’t know how long he sat on the ocean’s floor until Jinki came into his field of vision, not wearing a snorkel or his goggles, his cheeks puffed up as he tried to hold his breath, eyes small as he looked at him. The human stretched out his hands, signaled him to come up to the surface with him again, but Taemin shook his head, being persistent. Jinki wouldn’t be able to stay underwater for long, his lungs not made to do so, therefore all the young merman had to do was wait until he would leave again, his heart making a jump when the human suddenly touched his arm. 

Taemin had never been touched by a human, the sensation completely new and unexpected, a burning sensation radiating from the spot where the pads of Jinki’s fingers had come into contact with his skin. He blinked at the human, saw him form the words ‘Come up, please’ with his mouth, hundreds of bubbles rising to the surface. The merman caved in, not knowing what else to do and passed the human on his way up, only taking seconds to emerge from the water again. It took Jinki a little longer, the human gasping for air as his head broke through the water, hands wiping through his face to remove the salt from his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he struggled and spit out seawater, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” Jinki still fought for air while Taemin leisurely floated in the water, eyeing the other distrustfully. “Sometimes – I’m just a dumbass.” 

“Dumbass?”

Jinki nodded and swam towards the rocks, lifting himself out of the water to regain his breath. 

“Yes, that’s someone – someone who says dumb things and hurts people without realizing it.” He sank back down on the warm stones, mouth agape and face pulled into a grimace as he held onto his chest with his hands. Taemin came closer slowly, watching Jinki, the black shorts clinging to his thighs, water droplets glistening on his naked chest. 

“You are a dumbass.” 

He tested out the newly learned word, liking how easily it fell from his lips. There was an exhausted quiet laughter coming from the human’s direction, Taemin lifting his upper body out of the water until his chest could rest on the stones as well and he could look at the other. Despite being upset he couldn’t avoid the tingling that spread beneath his skin at the sound of the already familiar and welcome titter. 

“Yes, I am and I am sorry. Won’t happen again. I promise.” Jinki turned his head towards him, Taemin having his arms crossed beneath his head as he looked back at him. He wanted to trust Jinki, he really wanted to, and therefore nodded softly, watching a single drop of water run down from the other’s forehead and fall onto the warm stone where it left a dark circle. The two of them lay in the warm sun, Jinki having closed his eyes while Taemin took his time to take the other in, head nestled against his arm. He followed the soft contours of his face, the slight rising in the middle which led to the tip of his nose, the plumpness of his lips. He noticed a few dark spots on the other’s skin, close to his upper lip and near his eyelid, one at his chin and on his cheek, and wondered what they were, if they had any practical function. 

It was nice to share his spot at the bottom of the cliffs with someone, being in someone else’s presence, seeing a friendly face, to not be alone for once. Taemin’s back was warm from resting in the sun while his tail was still emerged in water, slowly paddling around. 

“You said Ariel,” Taemin mentioned after a while, Jinki’s eyes fluttering open, eyelashes short and dark, “Who is she?” 

Jinki smiled and turned on his side, propping himself up on his elbow. “Do you want to hear the sad or the happy story?” 

“Sad and happy.” 

Another warm chuckle. “Well, in the sad version of the tale there is a young mermaid who falls in love with a human – a prince to be exact. A prince is someone very important. She rescues him after his ship capsizes on the high sea. To be near him she sells her tongue to a sea witch in exchange for a pair of legs and has to make the prince fall in love with her within a few days. Otherwise, she’s going to die. The sad thing is that the prince is in love with someone else already and marries another woman. The sisters of the little mermaid come to her sister’s rescue, have all cut off her beautiful hair in exchange for a knife. If the mermaid kills the prince before midnight the mermaid returns to her original form and can live with her family underwater, if she doesn’t, she will die and appear as foam on the sea. She loves the prince too much, so she ends up dying in the end.” 

Taemin frowned. It wasn’t the words he didn’t understand this time, but the story. No mermaid would ever give up her fishtail in exchange for a pair of flimsy human legs. It was a story only a human could come up with. 

“That is not –,” Taemin tried to think of the right word, “Realistic?”

“Oh? How so?” Jinki looked at him, strands of wet hair clinging to his forehead, parts already dried from the sun. 

“We – _we_ do not fall in love and our fishtail is important to us. We are proud of it,” he tried to explain, wanting to say more, elaborate on this matter, but lacked the vocabulary, the ability to express himself adequately in the human language. 

“You don’t fall in love?” There was surprise on Jinki’s features. 

Taemin shook his head, using his favorite word, “No.” 

“Why?” 

Furrowing his brows Taemin collected his words carefully, his hand tapping the warm stone beneath his fingers as he formed sentences in his head. “We – do not believe in love. We think – it is something only humans do. We – make more sea people – but we live – we live with many – not just two. Sea people – we think love is – stupid?” 

It was the longest sentence Taemin had said so far and he was exhausted after finishing it, taking a deep breath, hoping that despite his clumsiness Jinki had understood what he had tried to say. 

Jinki next to him began to snort and turned around on his chest as well, mimicking Taemin’s posture by resting his head on his arms. “You are certainly right about that. Love is stupid.”

“What is the good ending?” Taemin wanted to know next, Jinki’s eyes falling shut, his lips puckering up in thought.

“The prince falls in love with the little mermaid, they marry, and live happily ever after.”

“They live in the sea? Together?” 

Jinki shook his head, a breeze of fresh air wafting over his hair, tiny dots raising on the human's skin. “No, she keeps her legs and lives on land with the prince.” 

“Why – why would she do that?” There was no way a mermaid would ever agree to live without her fishtail. They were independent beings who were proud of their fishtail and usually didn’t pay any attention to men unless they wanted to propagate. He remembered hearing his mother once tell him that all men were useless. She had died when Taemin was still small; a shark attack. 

“Because she is in love, Taemin.” The grin on Jinki’s face widened when he saw the repelled look on the merman’s face.

“She is stupid,” Taemin concluded, stomach tingling when Jinki began to laugh out loud, agreeing with him. 

“I think that’s the thing about love. It makes people stupid, no matter where they are from – from the land – or the sea.” 

“Humans are weird.” 

Jinki continued to laugh and nodded. “We certainly are.” 

Seagulls screeched over their heads, the waves splashing steadily against the rocks, Taemin having not been this content in a while, smelling the salt of the sea as he continued to memorize the other’s face, Jinki next to him looking peaceful. It fascinated him that they could lie here on flattened rocks and enjoy a warm summer’s day together despite living completely different lives, having an entirely different background. 

It was past sunset when Jinki set off again, the two of them having dabbled around in the water and eaten the food the human had brought along all afternoon. Jinki had even shown him a clip of the mermaid they had talked about on his phone, Taemin explaining to him that the sea-folk didn’t sing which had surprised the human, because humans believed that mermaids were all perfect singers who lured sailors in with their voices. Another abstruse myth humans had created to make them appear as dangerous and life-threatening. 

Jinki had promised to come back the next day and he had, and he had also come the following one, and the day after that, making sure to stop by every day to check on Taemin and eat dinner with him, the two quickly developing a routine, Taemin looking forward to their next dinner together as soon as Jinki was out of sight again. Three weeks passed like that, a continuous circle of waiting and spending more time with the human, waiting and spending more time with the human, an endless loop Taemin never wanted to break. He had finally found a friend, something he had longed for all his life. 

Little did Taemin know that soon enough he would realize that the feelings he couldn’t describe, the tingling in his chest whenever the human laughed ran deeper than the friendship he had longed for, that everything he had been taught, all the beliefs he had grown up with, he would soon enough be questioning, casting doubt on the subject of whether humans were that primitive, because they fell in love or if the sea-folk were the ones lacking emotional intelligence. 


	3. Chapter 3

****

Taemin noticed that something was off about Jinki the second his eyes caught sight of the human marching down the stony path along the cliffs. His posture appeared slouched, his walk idle and lethargic, his usual smile not even appearing when he noticed Taemin waiting for him at their usual spot at the bottom of the cliffs. The young merman had been agitated all day, following the movement of the sun, and swimming eights and doing rolls until he got dizzy to pass the time, his excited bobbing fishtail slowing down in its movements when Jinki wordlessly flopped down in front of him, eyes looking red and puffy. 

“What is wrong?” he asked and came closer when Jinki looked at him, his instinct of wanting to flee whenever their eyes met having slowly dissolved over time like white foam on the sea. At first, Jinki didn’t say anything, lowered his gaze again instead and fumbled with his fingers before Taemin saw how small tears began to roll down his cheeks.

“He’s leaving tomorrow. He packed all his stuff today, and – I think a part of me hoped that he would change his mind and stay, but when I came back from running errands today – all his things stood in the hallway,” Jinki sobbed silently, taking shaky little breaths after each sentence, “It just – it hurts so much. I had to leave because I couldn’t stay there – it felt suffocating.” 

Jinki pulled his lower arm roughly over his face as he tried to wipe away the tears, Taemin's heart sinking in his chest. Jinki hadn’t mentioned the other often in the past few weeks, only in passing when they talked about something that reminded Jinki of him. Taemin had understood quickly that he was a distraction for the human, an escape from his actual life, so he didn’t need to think about the things happening at home. It was the first time Taemin regretted not being human because if he were he could have stopped by at Jinki’s place every day to check on him and take him out for a drink what humans seemed to like doing according to Jinki. He felt helpless in the water, trapped by his fishtail, not being able to actively do something against the other’s sadness – against his broken heart. He always had to wait for Jinki to come and visit him by the sea, had no chance of climbing out of the water to leave the beach, and stop by at Jinki’s instead. 

“I am sorry,” Taemin said softly, his hand stretching out carefully to pat Jinki’s hand. It seemed like something humans did to comfort one another, Taemin’s heart plopping down in his stomach when Jinki closed his fingers around it, cupping it gently in his hands. It was the second time their bodies had come into contact with each other, the young merman staring at his entrapped hand, Jinki’s thumbs stroking over it carefully.

“Your skin is so smooth – almost like – silk?” 

“Silk?” 

Taemin looked up, tears still steadily running down Jinki’s cheeks. An unfamiliar yet pleasant sensation spread inside of him, something he didn’t have a name for. Maybe there was some magic involved in the touch of a human, maybe it was the reason why humans liked to be together, to experience that sensation repeatedly. 

“Yeah, it’s a natural fiber. Humans make expensive clothes out of it which are very, very soft – just like your hand.” 

A soft smile graced Jinki’s lips, his thumbs almost instinctively continuing to stroke Taemin’s hand as if this was what they were made for. 

“My hand is expensive?” Taemin blinked. 

A breathy chuckle. “I bet it is.” 

There was silence, Taemin awkwardly holding onto the rocks with one hand to keep himself up while the other was held by Jinki whose gaze was still lowered, one teardrop after another escaping his eyes. It was a pitiful sight and weirdly enough Taemin was hurt by it. 

The weather that day seemed to reflect the human’s mood quite well, the sky cloudy and the waves crashing with a little more urgency against the rocks than usual, trying to break them apart. The wind blew through their hair, Taemin noticing small little dots rising on Jinki’s arms again, something that also happened whenever Jinki came out of the water after a swim. It seemed to be a reaction by the human body that sea people didn’t possess.

Not knowing what to say, he used a sentence he had heard humans utter often when someone had been rejected or was hurt. “Do you – want to talk – about your feelings?” Those words usually resulted in humans crying more at first, but eventually, they all seemed to feel better. He had figured that talking about one’s feelings was important to humans. 

“Oh Taemin, if I only knew what my feelings are anymore.” A sigh fell from Jinki’s lips, strands of hair brushing over his forehead. The sun and seawater had washed out the color in his hair almost completely, leaving a spotty light pink, which Jinki apparently couldn’t be bothered to fix. Dark roots were showing at the top, Taemin wondering what the human would look like with his natural hair color.

“I mean I thought I will grow old with him.” Jinki chuckled sadly. “Maybe I was too naïve.” He gently let go of Taemin’s hand to dry his face with the sleeve of his shirt; a dark blue button-up with sleeves that reached down to his wrists. Pulling his hand away from Jinki’s knee, Taemin lifted himself out of the sea so he could sit next to the other, his fin still submerged in the water. He hadn’t done that often in Jinki’s presence, still fearing that the human might freak out if he saw the lower part of his body – the fish part. But holding himself up on both arms got tiring after a while, especially with the heavy swell that evening. 

“I miss hugging him and falling asleep next to him, you know. He always murmured in his sleep which I thought was so adorable. I’m wondering if I’m at a stage where I only want to remember the good things about our relationship and ignore the fact that things haven’t been well ever since we’ve moved to Jeju from Seoul. He never wanted to leave Seoul, he did it for me – maybe that’s where all our problems started.” Jinki took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his tangled hair. “We moved here because I got the best job offer ever which I just couldn’t decline. The thing is, he hates the heat and sunny places, so living here was the worst for him. Sometimes I regret moving here at all. Things were going well in Seoul. Coming here only messed everything up.”

The human’s voice was calm and stable, but Taemin picked out the pain in it, the hurt noticeable in every syllable. Jinki had mentioned Seoul often, had told Taemin that it was the capital of South Korea and that he had been born and had grown up there. The young merman had learned a lot about the world in the past weeks, things he wouldn’t have ever known about if it hadn't been for his encounter with Jinki. Sea people only got a vague glimpse at the life of humans, never fully understanding what happened beyond the beaches, the mountains and the meadows that separated them from the mainland. 

“You know, it sucks. I don’t even want to imagine what this place will feel like when he’s gone. I have no one here but him.” He pulled at his hair now, the strands standing up to all sides, making him look a little crazy, and maybe he was.

“You have me.” The words fell naturally from Taemin’s lips, causing a small, empathetic smile to appear on the human’s face, who nodded gently and softly patted his shoulder, another prickling sensation creeping underneath Taemin’s skin.

Jinki’s eyes were puffy, the tip of his nose red and glistening from the tears and the cold. “And I’m thankful for that. You’re the only one who keeps me sane these days – spending time with you does. And I can’t thank you enough for that.”

Taemin was flattered, fingertips running over the rough surface of the stone he sat on, still not knowing how to accept a compliment. He looked out to the sea, watched the sun slowly disappear behind the clouds, its brightness swallowed by their enormous size.

“I am sure you will be happy again – just give it time.” The cold breeze tickled his skin as he watched two seagulls fly low over the ocean’s surface, searching for food, one of them diving into the water with lightning speed and coming up again shortly after with a small struggling fish trapped between its bill. 

“That’s what they always say, right? Time heals all wounds. Right now I can’t imagine that.” 

“Who is they?”

A soft chuckle. “My kind – humans. We tend to say it a lot. As if anyone who is in actual pain wants to hear it.”

Turning his head, Taemin saw the other looking at him, still that small, sad smile tugging at the corners of his lips. A big part of him wanted to help the human though it was against the sea people’s nature. They only helped themselves and no one else – especially not humans. 

“I wished I could stay here forever,” Jinki said and licked his lips, “Quit my job and move into a small cottage close to the beach. Become a fisherman or something. Living a simpler life without any expectations.” He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, the tiniest beads of tears clinging to his eyelashes. 

“You could move here. To me.” 

“That would be nice, right?” His small smile turned into a wider grin and Taemin wasn’t sure if Jinki took him seriously, but he meant what he had said. It would be lovely to have his one friend live close by, to see his house from the sea, not having to worry about the other not coming back again. 

“Yes, it would be nice.”

The handsome human, who was liked so much by Taemin, didn’t show up the next day, a behavior so unusual that it made the young merman worry. He swam back and forth along the shore leading into the ocean, hoping to catch a glimpse of the other, his faith crushed in vain when the sun had long set and Jinki still hadn’t shown up. It was a devastating experience and Taemin spent the night with restlessly swimming through the sea, heart aching, his head worrying. It was the day the other human disappeared out of Jinki’s life and Taemin wanted to be there for him, wanted to stick to his side, and cheer him up, but he didn’t get the chance to, was left alone with his worries. 

He swam to his hideout at the waterfall, immersed himself in the odds and ends he had collected over the years, none of them managing to distract him properly. Falling asleep seemed impossible, Taemin positioning himself right beneath the waterfall as he tried to drown out his thoughts by letting the water fall on his head and shoulders. 

When Jinki didn’t show up for a second day in a row, knots tightened around in Taemin's stomach, heart beating in his chest always a little too quickly to be normal, every thought of the human sending lightning bolts through his body. Ever since Jinki had put up the sign at the top of the cliff no one but him had shown up anymore and while Taemin had been thankful for it in the past, he missed hearing human voices now, missed hearing humans declare their love to each other. Everything he had loathed were things he missed dearly now and in his desperation he swam to another popular spot for love declarations, which was less secluded, and he hid behind rocks, impatiently waiting for lovebirds to show up.

Taemin didn’t understand himself. Didn’t know why he craved to hear blatant drivel leaving a human’s mouth when it used to be something he had hated so much in the past. At least for once, luck was on his side, and even after sundown, humans found their way to a group of stones close to the sandy beach. Hidden by darkness Taemin watched two young women sit down on a checkered blanket with a basket filled with food and lit up candles, one of them having black hair, which barely reached down to her chin and the other spotting long red hair which fell in soft curls over her shoulders. 

“Admit it Gwi, you’ve missed Korean food,” the one with the red hair said as they were eating, Taemin having learned that what they were eating was called Kimbap.

“The food in Italy was great. No complains there” 

Taemin didn’t know where Italy was, but assumed that it wasn’t in South Korea. He swam a little closer just to see the faces of the women more clearly, the one who had just talked, having a sharp black line drawn on the top of her eyelid. It made her look quite intimidating. 

“But I’m sure the beaches weren’t that nice in Italy.”

The woman with the black hair tilted her head, tapping the tips of her chopsticks against her red-tinted lips. “They were really nice. The Chia beach in Sardinia was beautiful. Remember I sent you a photo of it.”

The young merman could see that it wasn’t an answer the red-haired woman had wanted to hear, her soft features hardening a little. “But the people were rude, right? You said so. You probably missed Korean people a lot while studying abroad.”

“Minjung, what are you even talking about?” The woman with the black hair laughed lightheartedly and picked up a piece of Kimbap with her chopsticks. “Italians are nice. I just had a bit of a culture shock when I arrived, but they were very friendly. I talked about Gabriella so often, right? She would have been totally your type. She is a sweet girl.”

“Gwiboon.” There was a long sigh which oddly enough reminded Taemin of Jinki, his thoughts immediately drifting to the human, wondering if he was okay, wondering where he was. “You know that there is only one girl who is my type.” 

“Minjung.” The voice of the woman with the black hair softened, a small pout framing her lips as she reached out and placed her hand onto the other woman’s knee who had her gaze lowered. 

“Ever since you’ve come back, all you have been talking about is how great Italy was and how desperately you want to go back again while I waited for you to come back for over a year, feeling incredibly lonely, and counting the days until I could finally hold you in my arms again.” 

It would have been natural for Taemin to want to splash water onto the women in front of him or throw algae or snails at them, but he didn’t have the heart to do so, feeling sympathy for the young woman with the red hair. Why did humans like hugging so much? Taemin had never been hugged – not even by his mother who had given birth to him. It was not customary for sea people to do so. They didn’t feel like there was a need for it.

“Min – I want to go back to Italy with you, not alone. You have no idea how much it sucked when I saw something cute in a store, which I thought would suit you, and you weren’t there to try it on or when I strolled through all those romantic little alleys with all those small cafes and just wanted to sit down with you in one of them to drink some coffee.”

The woman with the red hair smiled shyly and covered the other’s hand with her own when she looked up. “So you missed me?” Taemin noticed how the woman’s voice was a little higher now, a little more playful. He had noted early on while he had studied humans that they tended to do that when they wanted something. That they tried to act a little childishly to attract someone’s attention. 

“Of course I did, doofus.” The woman with the black hair got onto her knees and inched closer until she could place her hands onto the other’s cheeks.

“You like me more than those Italian girls?” There was a small pout on the red-haired woman’s lips which the other registered with a hearty laugh before she leaned forward and kissed her. 

“More than any other woman, Minjung.” She said as she leaned back for a second only to go in for a second kiss, Taemin seeing both of them smiling into it. Hugging and kissing were something that interested Taemin immensely lately as it was something he didn’t know from his culture. It seemed something that solely belonged to the human species. Humans seemed to be able to just sit around for hours and kiss without a care in the world, Taemin instinctively emulating the movements of the humans’ mouths with a tiny frown. He tried kissing the back of his hand to understand the thrill, the excitement humans seemed to experience judging from the little cut-off breaths and sighs falling from their lips, but he didn’t feel anything, the sensation non-existent. 

He disappeared into darkness then, not wanting to disturb the humans’ privacy for longer, his thoughts revolving around hugging and kissing for the rest of the night. He wondered if all humans liked kissing and hugging, if Jinki also liked kissing or just hugging. Taemin wondered if humans only kissed and hugged when they were in love or if they also did such things if they weren’t. When he stopped at the cliffs and dove down to look for Byeol, he tried kissing him as well, thinking that kissing something other than himself might change the sensation, but there was no difference, Byeol’s skin slightly rough and spikey against his lips. 

Trying to find answers to his questions in the stars he lay down on the stones at the bottom of the cliffs and looked up at the night sky, hands crossed behind his head as he wondered why sea people never exchanged any kind of intimacy if it was something humans liked to do so much. He fell asleep thinking about Jinki and his friendship to the human, desperately hoping that the other would appear again eventually.

It took another two days for Jinki to show up again, Taemin swimming towards him, excited and suspicious at the same time. It was the hottest day they had experienced all summer, the boulders smoldering in the sun, not a single cloud visible in the blue sky. 

“Where have you been?” He couldn’t suppress the accusation in his voice, was hurt because he had been abandoned for so long, Jinki, who carried a huge bag, kneeling when he reached the bottom of the cliffs. 

“I’m sorry, Taemin,” he apologized right away and opened the zipper on his bag. “I just didn’t feel like getting out of bed. I even called in sick at work because of it. I’m sorry.” 

“It is okay,” the young merman replied ruefully, feeling bad for coming at the other so harshly despite knowing what Jinki went through. But he couldn’t help it. In the short time, they’ve known each other the human had turned into something incredibly valuable to Taemin, something he didn’t want to lose, something he missed as soon as it was gone. 

Jinki pulled out a big pile of plastic and something else that Taemin hadn’t seen before but identified quickly as a device to blow air into the pile of plastic making it grow with a hissing sound. 

“What is that?” He swam closer and raised himself out of the water, the heat of the stones seeping into his skin. 

“It’s a rubber boat. I thought we can take a little tour and you can show me around.” Jinki wore a baseball cap and shades, Taemin wondering if his eyes beneath them were red and puffy again. Watching the human pump up the rubber boat Taemin tried to think about places he could show to the other.

“The waterfall. It is nice there.”

“Waterfall? That sounds good.” Jinki glanced at him shortly and smiled at him, Taemin’s heart making this unusual, disconcerting jump in his chest which he hadn’t experienced for a while now – or at least not in the time he hadn’t seen the other. Was that something humans experienced too?

“Are you okay now?”

The human pumped up the boat, the rubber slowly unfolding and steadily becoming bigger. It was bright yellow with some blue, reminding Taemin of a pacific blue tang with reversed colors. For a moment Jinki paused the movement of his leg and looked at Taemin, his lips not indicating how he felt.

He shook his head. “Not really. I mean –” He began pushing air into the boat again with his foot, hands spreading out the boat further, “I have to accept that he won’t come back and that I need to move on eventually, not just yet – it’s too early. He wasn’t a person I’ve just met, Taemin. We lived together, you know.” 

Taemin nodded and watched the other blow up the boat in silence, seeing small drops of sweat roll down Jinki’s temples, cheeks turning red from the task. He wore dark blue shorts and a simple white t-shirt without any crazy prints or patterns he usually showcased. It took the human quite some time to fill the boat with enough air to remove all the wrinkles in the rubber and when he finally finished he fell to the floor and heaved out a long sigh, pulling a grimace as he looked at the boat. 

“What a workout,” he murmured and lifted his baseball cap to remove the sweat from his forehead, his hair wet and pulled back beneath the cap. Seeing the boat fully pumped up, Taemin realized that he had seen one of them before, usually used by children who played in them close to the shore. It was only big enough to fit a fully grown human, Jinki getting up after a moment to pull out metallic rots which he put together, two pieces he fastened at the ends having flat yellow plastic pieces attached to them which Jinki had called oars after Taemin had asked him for the correct term. 

“So in which direction do we have to paddle to reach the waterfall?” Jinki asked as he pulled off his shoes and socks, instantly wincing and dancing around when his feet touched the hot stones.

“In that one.” Taemin pointed west while Jinki stored his shoes and socks in the bag and zipped it up. He threw it into the boat which he carefully pushed it into the water, Taemin helping him by pulling it. The rubber felt weird under his fingers, so he held onto the rope tied around it.

“Can you hold it still so I can get in?” Jinki put the oars into the boat and stepped into the water, Taemin merely nodding in response, waiting. There was a loud squeaking when Jinki held onto the edges, the piece of rubber dangerously tilting to the left when he climbed in and balanced out his weight, Taemin trying his best to keep the boat steady. He still considered it funny that humans needed devices and gadgets to move more efficiently through the water, Taemin thankful that this wasn’t a concern on his list of things he needed to worry about. 

“Thank you.” 

Jinki smiled at him when he finally found a comfortable position to sit in, the bag placed between his bent legs and the oars pulled through lugs on each side of the boat. 

“I can also push you. It might be quicker,” Taemin said when Jinki began to immerse the oars into the water and pulled them up again, the boat moving forward immediately. 

Taemin could hear the snort coming from Jinki’s direction. “Are you calling me weak? Hey, I don’t go to the gym regularly and suffer through all those arm exercises for you to call me weak,” the human said in a loud voice, Taemin noticing the slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips. 

“I did not say that.” Taemin blinked as he swam next to the boat, keeping his distance out of fear that the human might hit him with one of the oars by accident. 

“But you’ve implied it.” Jinki grinned openly now, Taemin noticing how the other picked up a little speed as if he wanted to show him how strong he was.

“Implied?” 

“Yes, that means that you tried to tell me something without actually saying it.” 

Taemin dove down for a moment, swam below the rubber boat and watched it from below, finding the look of it kind of funny before he came up next to Jinki’s other side. 

“I did not imply anything,” he practiced the new word right away, swimming close to the boat from behind until he could reach the edge and hold onto it with his fingers. “We do not talk like humans,” he tried to explain as he gave the boat a little speed up with his tailfin, “You – what did you teach me before? We do not beat around the bush? Is that right?” 

Jinki chuckled softly. “Yes, very good.”

Taemin smiled brightly up at him, feeling proud for having adapted to Jinki’s way of speaking so quickly, learning new words and phrases every day. “We are straightforward. We do not beat around the bush.”

“That’s good. I envy that. We humans always take a hundred detours before speaking about what bothers us or what we want. It’s exhausting, but we all grow up like that. So we simply accept it.” 

Jinki gave up on using the oars when Taemin began to swim faster and he realized that they were more of a hindrance than extra support, the rubber boat shooting over the water as if it was powered by an engine. It didn’t cost Taemin much strength to keep the boat with Jinki in motion, his fishtail strong enough to let them move forward swiftly. The human clutched onto the boat and laughed all the while, Taemin feeling the buzzing beneath his skin again, wanting to swim even faster to make the other laugh harder. It didn’t take much more time to get to the waterfall than it did when Taemin was alone, enthusiasm floating through his veins at the prospect of showing the other this special place. He slowed down when they reached the river that diverted from the open ocean, small white pebbles piling up to each side. Following the stream only for a few meters let them already be faced with luscious greenery, the leaves around them protecting them from the sun, providing them with well-deserved shade. Taemin pulled himself up, arms on either side of Jinki’s back, and looked over the other’s shoulder, his weight so light that the dip he made in the boat was barely noticeable. 

“This is amazing, Taemin. I’ve only ever seen such a sight on travel blogs,” Jinki voiced appreciatively, mouth agape as he looked around and watched little birds fly around in the trees, the sound of the nearby waterfall getting louder. The water was a nice teal, fishes visible underneath the surface, too small to keep up with Taemin. He was vigilant as he maneuvered the rubber boat through the narrow river and gave it a little push when they finally arrived at the waterfall. Jinki floated around in circles on the water and sat up straight, turning his head, visibly astonished by the beautiful scenery around them. 

“This looks like a place taken right out of a fairytale,” he mouthed and kneeled in the boat, taking the oars back into his hands to paddle over to the rocky shore. Taemin followed to help him out of the boat. The waterfall was surrounded by boulders and trees, only small specs of sun reaching the surface of the water and the surrounding rocks through the thick foliage. Some were covered in moss, the chirping of birds and the pattering of water the only sounds they could hear. No screeching seagulls, no waves crashing against rocks, no car engines echoing over from the street near the cliffs. It was serene and Taemin was happy to share this place with someone as special as Jinki. 

“I can’t believe people don’t come here.” 

The human looked around in fascination and even took off his sunglasses to let it all sink in. As Taemin had suspected, Jinki’s eyes were slightly swollen and Taemin noticed purplish shadows beneath the lower lash line, something he hadn’t seen on the other’s face before. 

“It is hard to get here. You can’t see it from the ocean and you can not see it from up there,” Taemin explained as he first looked into the direction they had been coming from and then up to the trees. 

With an understanding nod Jinki crouched down to pull the boat out of the water so it wouldn’t drift off. Taemin watched him silently when he took off his t-shirt and shorts right after, more used to seeing the other shirtless by now, but still admiring the sight from a distance. Jinki threw the clothes carelessly in a pile before he carefully sat down at the edge of the pool and let his legs dip into the water. 

“This water is so much colder than the seawater,” he commented with a little whine which Taemin found rather funny. Slowly but surely Jinki sank into the pool until the water was up to his shoulders and he had to use his arms and legs to keep himself above the surface. He swam towards Taemin right away, the young merman liking the moments in which they were inside the water together the most. It was nice to be on eye level with Jinki, to fool around in the water with him, swim around him and show him little tricks to cheer him up. 

“Thanks for showing me his place, Taemin. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a place more beautiful in my life.” 

Taemin grinned at him and then mischievously dove down into the water to come up with his tail, splashing a big amount of water into Jinki’s face. When he came up again the other was puffing and blowing, face and hair wet, smile on his lips. 

“Hey, that was mean,” he chuckled and used his hands to splash some water back into Taemin’s face, his method far less effective than Taemin’s had been. They played around inside the water for a while, teasing each other, enjoying the solitude this place possessed, Jinki at some point getting out of the water to climb up to the top of the waterfall, his posture reminding Taemin of a sea spider. He was envious of the other when he saw him standing at the top before he jumped down, arms stretched forward to form one line, water spluttering everywhere when he landed. Taemin showed Jinki the small cave hidden behind the waterfall when the human got tired from swimming, the space cold and wet, not something a human would like but was very much appreciated by Taemin. 

“Look.” Taemin wiggled a little awkwardly around the smooth surface, his movements far less graceful than they were inside water, and pulled out a few plastic containers which he had hidden behind a few rocks in case humans would show up at the waterfall. “Here are a few things I have collected over the years.”

“Plastic containers with Pororo and super wing characters?” Jinki glanced at him and took the closed containers in his hands, the surface quite dirty, parts of the pictures on the lids scratched off. 

“What is that?” Taemin asked with a little frown.

“Cartoon characters. Like the video of Ariel, I’ve shown you. Kids love them. This here is Pororo the little penguin and his friends Petty and Crong.” He pointed at the characters on the lid and then took the other container. “And this is Jett. He’s an airplane, the huge things you might see flying in the sky sometimes.”

“Airplanes talk?” 

There was an amused chuckle. “No, they don’t. At least not in real life.”

He opened the box to reveal a lot of jewelry and old coins, some of them discolored from lying on the ground of the sea for probably years. 

“Huh, we humans seem to lose a lot of jewelry.”

Rummaging through all the little accessories, Jinki picked up a bracelet or an earring now and then to take a closer look while Taemin watched him, giddy and happy to sit in the little cave together with the other and share something so personal.

“This one is pretty. It reminds me of a bracelet I used to own when I was younger.”

It was a simple bracelet with black beads and a cowrie shell in the middle, probably a tourist souvenir that had been lost while going for a swim. 

“Then take it. It is yours.”

Jinki shook his head with a smile. “It’s okay, really.” 

Without wanting to argue with the human, Taemin took the bracelet and grabbed Jinki’s arm to pull the elastic cord over his hand, ignoring the tingling which felt like it had become a returning companion whenever the other was near. 

“Thank you, Taemin. I will take good care of it,” Jinki promised and turned his wrist around, Taemin grinning at him. It was nice seeing something of his on Jinki. It felt like something visible connected them now, making their friendship appear real. While Jinki continued to browse through Taemin’s collection of ocean floor findings, Taemin remembered the two women from the beach all of a sudden and how close they had been.

“Can I ask a question?” Taemin tried to get the other’s attention as he fumbled with the very colorful bracelets on his arm.

“Of course – you know you can ask me anything.”

Tilting his head, Taemin pursed his lips and looked for a spot next to Jinki’s head as he tried to concentrate. Though he had become more comfortable with using the human language, he still had a long way to go, feeling troubled whenever he wanted to form longer and more complex sentences. When he realized he missed a few words, he decided to take an easier route, and instead of explaining what he thought of in detail, he got straight down to the nitty-gritty part.

“Why do humans hug and kiss each other?” 

Jinki rose his head immediately, looking a little surprised at first before he began to smile warmly. 

“I guess they do it because they like each other.” He shrugged.

The answer didn’t satisfy Taemin and the frown on his face deepened, fingers pulling at the elastic of a bracelet with purple glass beads. 

“So when you like someone – you hug and kiss them? Do all humans do that?” 

The human seemed to think his words over and then looked down at the container in his lap again. “I think yes, most humans hug and kiss the people they love. But some humans don’t like kissing or hugging.”

“Why is that?”

A thoughtful hum. “They just don’t like to be touched.”

Taemin nodded softly and licked his lips as he stared down at Jinki’s fingers, looking so different compared to his own; bigger and thicker, calluses from manual labor visible on his palms. 

“But most people like hugging and kissing?” 

“I think so.” Jinki pulled out a leather bracelet that was completely made with cowries and stretched out his hands to place it around Taemin’s small wrist and tie it. Taemin let it happen without saying anything about it, too hung up on the topic they were talking about. 

“They hug and kiss people they love?”

A low _hm_ resounded through the small cave as Jinki tied one last knot into the bracelet, making it number seven on Taemin’s right arm. 

“How do humans know that they love someone?”

“Ah Taemin, you are asking difficult questions today.” Jinki chuckled and placed the lid back on the container before placing it aside to take a look at a different one. “It’s a feeling, and that feeling is different for everyone. You just know I guess. There is also something like platonic love and romantic love. Love you feel for your family, for your friends, and love you feel for someone special, someone you want to be together with. Some don’t even experience something like romantic love.” 

Taemin wanted to say something but then he swallowed when Jinki halted in his movements, holding a small silver ring in his fingers.

“Is that?” It’s all he said as he turned the ring between his fingers, eyeing its engraving. He looked up then, his brows furrowed. “Where did you find that?” 

Taemin felt caught, as if he had done something he wasn’t supposed to, fingers twiddling with the bracelets on his arms. “I found it on the floor of the ocean,” he explained in a cautious tone. “It was so pretty.” 

He saw Jinki’s shoulders slump, a deep sigh leaving his lips as he placed the ring back into the container and put the lid on. “It’s okay,” Jinki said eventually, voice monotone, almost lifeless as he bit his bottom lip. “It was never supposed to be mine anyway. You can keep it.”

Jinki stood up then, made himself small to fit underneath the narrow ceiling and looked at Taemin. “Do you come with me? It’s too cold in here. I have goosebumps all over.” He showed him his arm, the small little dots with the raised hair, which Taemin was so fascinated by, visible on the other’s skin again. Taemin wasn’t sure what to do with the other’s reaction, didn’t know how to interpret it, didn’t know if he had hurt the human unintentionally. 

“Sure.”

He crawled after Jinki by pushing himself up with his arms, the human disappearing long before Taemin had reached the waterfall. As easy it was for him to operate in water the more troublesome were his movements on land. A sigh of relief washed over him when he could finally slip back into it and follow Jinki, who waited for him in the middle of the plunge pool.

“What does it feel like to you – when you fall in love?” 

Taemin tried to stir them back to the previous topic of their conversation, the location of it not mattering to him. He wanted answers, so he could understand humans better.

Jinki laughed at his question and ran his hands through his hair. “You are very curious today, Taemin,” he said and turned onto his back to float on the water, Taemin copying him, face turned towards the human. “I always feel happy when the person I like is around, and I always get very giddy and excited when I am about to meet them again. I think these are very clear signs. My heart tends to flutter in my chest a lot when they look at me or when we touch. I’m not even talking about deliberate touching, just the brush of one’s hand against my arm is already enough. Falling in love is exciting. It’s refreshing. You discover this new person, you learn more about them, you always want to get to know them better. You also learn about yourself a lot. I think it’s the best feeling in the world.”

Jinki turned his head towards him with a smile, Taemin dumbfounded, not knowing what to reply. Was that buzzing beneath his skin whenever Jinki touched him or laughed, and the quickening of his heartbeat whenever Jinki looked at him signs of him having developed feelings for the human? That couldn’t possibly be, sea people weren’t fools. They didn’t fall in love. Falling in love was something humans did – not sea people – not him. 

To clear his head he dove down and sank to the stony bottom, staring up at the surface to see Jinki’s back float on the surface, arms and legs stretched out like a starfish. Threading his fingers through his hair his eyes fell onto the newly added bracelet on his arm, air bubbles leaving his mouth when he sighed, a small little quirk he had picked up from the human. It was dark around him, stones covered with algae, tiny fishes swimming around his head. What would it mean to be in love with a human? What consequences would it have? It would be impossible for them to be together, considering they were different species. Taemin wasn’t even sure why he considered them being together an option. For a ‘together’ two were necessary and not just one – one was being alone, two were being together. Even in the unlikely event of Taemin having feelings for a human, Jinki was still in love with the human who had abandoned him. 

He leaned his head against the soil in his back and sighed again, more bubbles rising. After rubbing his face in distraught he rose again and sped up as he got closer to the surface so he could break through it and jump over Jinki, the human looking up at him in surprise. Taemin landed back in the plunge pool elegantly only seconds later, swimming back to his previous spot. 

“You surprised me,” the human said with a tranquil smile on his face. Hair stuck to his forehead and beads of water pearled down his skin, making Taemin’s chest feel tight. Maybe the feelings Jinki had described couldn’t be applied to him – Jinki was human after all and Taemin wasn’t, at least that’s what Taemin tried to tell himself over and over again as he watched the other. 

When it got too cold for Jinki to stay in the water he climbed out of it and lay down in a spot that was touched by light falling through the trees, a huge flat boulder covered in moss. He helped Taemin to get out as well so they could bathe in the sun together, Taemin not able to unwind when the human lay on his back next to him with closed eyes, one of his legs propped up. Tapping his fingers against the moss Taemin began to pluck at it, eyes constantly wandering back and forth between looking at Jinki’s lips and the moss next to his head. 

“Jinki?” he asked carefully and bit his lip when he received a lazy hum in return. “What does kissing feel like?”

The human looked at him through one eye, the other closed as the sun shone into it. 

“Nice – it feels nice.” 

Nibbling on the inside of his cheek, Taemin looked down at Jinki’s chest, seeing it go up and down with every breath he took. The goosebumps were still visible on his chest. 

“Nice?” He probed carefully, Jinki now turning his head towards him and shielding his eyes with one hand to see him properly.

“Yes – it’s different for everyone, Taemin.”

“What does it feel like to you?” he asked right back, a small droplet of water running down Jinki’s chest and disappearing in his navel. 

“I’ve never really thought about that,” the human admitted and turned his head back to look up at the trees. “For me – kissing alone doesn’t give me anything. Like lips touching – it feels like kissing my hand.” He paused to demonstrate, Taemin remembering how he had tried that before. “But if I kiss someone I really like, then it’s this nice sensation in my tummy. It’s a warm tingling sensation that spreads throughout my body.” Jinki patted his stomach first before letting his hand glide over his chest and then along his arm. “It’s a nice feeling.” 

“I have never kissed anyone before,” Taemin admitted, but knew that this wouldn’t come as a surprise for the other. After all, he had called humans stupid for falling in love before. 

“Yeah, I figured that this might not be a thing in the sea people community.” Jinki propped himself up on his elbows. 

“I want to know what it feels like – to me.” The sentence had fallen easier from his lips than he had predicted, curiosity winning over reason. Jinki looked at him before he began to smile.

“Are you trying to imply something this time?” he joked friskily, Taemin remembering the word from earlier.

“Yes, I think I am implying something.” 

“I thought sea people don’t do that?” Jinki rose one of his eyebrows in amusement, smile unwavering. 

“Maybe we do – _sometimes_.” 

Taemin pressed his lips together, heart fluttering in his chest when Jinki began to laugh next to him. “You are really something special, Taemin.” 

“I mean,” Taemin felt shy all of a sudden, a feeling he knew from his childhood but hadn’t experienced in years. It made him feel small and vulnerable. “Would you kiss me?” he tried carefully, looking anywhere but at Jinki, a small pile of plucked out moss having already built up in between their bodies. “Just once?” 

With every second that passed Taemin felt more uncomfortable in his skin, heart pounding violently in his chest as he waited for a reply. When he eventually lifted his head, Jinki was eyeing him, hesitant and questioning. 

“Is that a no?” He blinked at the human, feeling something inside of him crack, the sound so loud in his head that Taemin was convinced that Jinki must have heard it too. 

“No,” Jinki shook his head. “No, it’s not a no. I’m just – I haven’t kissed someone who wasn’t Jonghyun in years.” 

The name of the other human caused the cracking to turn only louder, Taemin’s fingernails already scratching at the rough surface of the stone underneath the moss, fingernails splintering. “I am sorry,” he said quickly, knowing that humans used these words often to weasel themselves out of uncomfortable situations. 

“You don’t need to be, Taemin.”

Jinki sat up straight, rubbing his hands against each other to remove moss. “I wouldn’t mind kissing you. If that’s something you would like to experience I have no problem with helping you out.”

Taemin couldn’t help but blink helplessly, his heart about to jump out of his chest as he lay on his back next to the human. Unconsciously he gnawed on his lip and sat up as well, thoughts tumbling around in his head, the surrounding sounds completely blurred out.

“Can we – I mean can we also hug?” 

“Of course. Maybe we should start with that then, hm?”

Skidding closer, Jinki stretched out his arms and slung them around Taemin’s body without giving any prior warning, the young merman stiffening at first and staring at a tree behind them, blinking. Breath getting caught in his chest, Taemin could feel the other’s heartbeat through his skin, the steady rhythm lolling him in, letting him sink into the foreign sensation, arms slowly coming around the human to embrace him around his middle. The feeling was unlike anything Taemin knew and he couldn’t remember ever being so close to someone that he could feel their breath on his skin and hear the beating of their heart in his ears. He let his eyes fall shut to concentrate on the other’s body fully, fingers gliding over raised skin. Jinki’s cheek rested on his shoulder and quite unexpectedly the human didn’t move away right away to end the demonstration of a hug, but stayed, hands clasped around Taemin’s waist, holding onto him, lingering. 

“You’re so warm,” Taemin could hear him mumble into his skin, shivers running down his spine and spreading out to the tip of his fishtail. The arms around him tightened just a little and Taemin leaned in further, mimicking the human’s gesture by placing his cheek against Jinki’s shoulder, feeling content, his heart beginning to calm down. Hugging Jinki must have been the best feeling Taemin had ever experienced and suddenly he understood why humans liked it so much, why they looked for closeness, why they could sit around in the dark for hours, and spent their precious lifetime with hugging and kissing each other. A part of him felt betrayed by the sea-folk for being so against this kind of intimacy, felt robbed by the people who had made humans look stupid for wanting to be close to one another. Was it possible that a human had to enter his life first for him to experience this comfortable buzzing underneath his skin? 

“I missed hugging someone.” 

When Jinki slowly pulled back and his chest left Taemin’s, the young merman felt like he was dragged forcefully out of a dream and pushed down a cliff, the warmth and the scent of the other’s body gone, leaving him cold and lost. 

“Then do not stop,” Taemin whispered almost scandalized, fingertips still hovering on Jinki’s lower back, the vibration passing through him when the other began to laugh. 

“You liked that?” 

He bent over right away then, not asking further questions, just resting his cheek back on Taemin’s shoulder, pleasant warmth spreading back into the merman’s body as if the connection of their bodies had unleashed a flow of energy between them.

“Thank you,” Taemin mumbled, cheek squished against Jinki, fingers digging a little into the other’s skin out of fear that he might pull away again. When the human began to softly caress his back, fingers rubbing along his spine, Taemin lost all sense of direction, feeling like a sea cucumber; boneless and wobbly. 

“I still can’t believe how soft your skin is.” 

Not saying anything, Taemin closed his eyes, not wanting to leave this place ever again. It made all sense to him now – the hugging, the kissing, people wanting to form relationships.

“I understand now.” 

Jinki’s head moved slightly on his shoulder. “You understand what?”

“Why humans like this. I do not want to let go.” Taemin sighed, feeling like he was wrapped up in a soft bed of seaweed in an ocean with warm water. There was a chuckle and Jinki patted his hair gently.

“You will have to eventually.” The young merman could hear the amusement in the other’s voice but didn’t mind it and instead, he decided to enjoy the newly discovered sensation to the fullest, feeling like someone who had been starved for a long time and finally had been offered a meal. All his thoughts about kissing had been temporarily cast away and he only unclasped his arms behind Jinki’s back when the other had to pee. Knowing no shame Taemin looked after him when he excused himself and walked over to a tree, the merman soon hearing a splattering sound while Jinki’s back was turned towards him. Just seeing the other’s back made his fingertips tingle and he wanted to get back to hugging, wanted to make up for all the years he had gone without it. 

“Before I forget, I brought food along.” Jinki looked over his shoulder as he spoke casually to Taemin. When he came back he crouched down in front of the plunge pool to wash his hands and then carefully wandered over the stones to his bag. He grabbed it and joined Taemin on the big boulder again, placing the backpack between them. “I got us some snacks and tuna Kimbap. You liked that one the most, right?” 

Taemin nodded as the human rummaged through the bag and pulled out a few containers and placed them on the moss. Jinki bringing food along for them to eat together when he came to visit the young merman had become a normal part of their meet-ups, the human making sure to always give Taemin something new to try each time. The ones the merman particularly liked he brought more often while foods he disliked never received a second chance. 

How Jinki could so casually switch from hugging to preparing food for them while Taemin’s brain was still processing the throbbing underneath his skin was something that confused him, and he wondered if humans were less receptive to touch, didn’t react to it so intensely because they had experienced the feeling throughout their lives. Maybe their senses had dulled over the years.

“Here.” 

Jinki offered him food, held the open container with the tuna Kimbap in front of him, eyebrows raising when Taemin shook his head. 

“I am not hungry.” 

“I didn’t think I would ever hear you say that.” Smiling at Taemin, Jinki retracted his hand and grabbed a piece of Kimbap himself, eating it in one bite, cheeks filling up as he chewed. Taemin dwelled on his thoughts as he watched Jinki eat some of the food he had brought along and laid back down on the boulder eventually, slightly frustrated that he wasn’t able to look at Jinki anymore without the need of wanting to wrap his arms around his body arising in him. He didn’t know if it was a normal reaction to being touched or if his brain played tricks on him, eyes curiously drifting over the human’s body, his thighs, his stomach, his chest, and his arms, everything looking taut and trained, muscles in his body flexing whenever he moved. 

As the day progressed and afternoon turned into evening, the sun slowly beginning to set Taemin didn’t get the chance to hug the human once more, the two of them spending some more time in the water until Jinki decided that it was time to return to the cliffs before it got dark. Taemin took his time in bringing them home, swam at a steady almost leisure pace, knowing that they would have to part again when arrived at the cliffs. But no matter how slow he swam soon enough he could see their meet-up spot from afar, an unwilling sigh leaving his lips. The water sparkled as the sun was low in the sky, the temperatures only having dropped slightly since they had set out on their tiny adventure. Eventually, they arrived at the shore, Taemin holding onto the boat once more while Jinki got out, body hidden behind his t-shirt and shorts again. 

“Do you think someone would steal it if I left it here?” Jinki looked at the boat while correcting the fit of his baseball cap, eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. “I really can’t be bothered to let the air out, and if we want to go somewhere, I would need to pump it up again. It seems like such a hassle.” 

“You are the only one who comes here now.” 

Taemin still held onto the boat while looking up at Jinki, heart tumbling down in his stomach when the human sent him one of his disarming smiles and then moved on to tie it to a big piece of driftwood which had been stuck between rocks for years. He came around to sit on the rock jetty leading into the water then, sitting as close as possible to the edge, rolling his shorts up to the middle of his thighs, legs dangling in the water which almost reached his knees. 

“Come.” Jinki waved him over and naturally, Taemin overcame the few meters of water separating them, coming to a halt less than a meter in front of the human, his fishtail moving firmly underneath the water to keep him afloat, just his head peeking out. Skidding back a little and spreading his legs, Jinki patted the stone underneath him, motioning for Taemin to come closer who furrowed his brows, not sure what the other wanted from him. 

“Come closer,” he voiced it out loud then, Taemin feeling the buzzing under his skin return at the chance of being near the human again. Swimming forward, he fit himself between the other’s legs and placed his hands on Jinki’s knees to pull himself out of the water, his head coming up to the other’s chest.

“I had a fun time today, Taemin. Thank you,” Jinki began to address him, one hand reaching out to pick a piece of strayed moss out of Taemin’s hair, flicking it into the ocean with his fingers. “I didn’t want to annoy you with my whining so I didn’t say much about it today, but I felt really bad in the past few days, weeks even – but whenever I’m here, my mood gets better – thanks to you. Sometimes it feels like you were sent from heaven or something to look out for me.” 

Taemin’s ears felt hot when Jinki brushed hair behind it, fingers grazing the shell, its shape different compared to the ones of humans, longer at the top and tapering off, the tip colored in the color of his fishtail, purple with specks of gold. Licking his lips, Taemin’s fingertips played with the seam of Jinki’s pants.

“It feels like that – for me too,” he admitted, Jinki gently smiling at him. His fingers wandered down his cheek then, leaving a warm trail of need in Taemin’s chest before the came to a stop at his chin, cupping and lifting it, so the young merman was forced to look up at him. He felt startled at first when Jinki leaned down to him, but when he understood what was about to happen his fingers dug into the other’s thighs and his eyes fell shut, an emotion so raw and pure erupting inside of him when the other placed his lips on his that it felt like his heart had stopped beating. Blood pumped violently through his veins, heard its rhythm roaring in his ears, his head instantly following Jinki when he pulled back to break their kiss. Jinki chuckled lightly at his reaction and let his thumb wander up to his lips to hold him back, Taemin’s eyes snapping open when he realized that Jinki wouldn’t deepen the kiss like humans usually did. 

“And – did it meet your expectations?”

Taemin blinked helplessly. “Expectations?” 

“Yes, did it feel the way you imagined it?” 

Taemin pressed his lips together to savor the sensation, fingers coming up to touch his lips as he had a hard time forming coherent sentences. 

“Yes? No?” It sounded so much like a question that Jinki began to snigger, Taemin’s skin trembling, his thoughts all over the place. 

“Yes? No? Which one is it?” 

Taemin automatically leaned into the other’s touch when Jinki stroked a few strands of hair out of his face, wanting to see the eyes hidden behind a pair of dark specs. Nudging his forefinger against the tip of Taemin’s nose, Jinki pulled his legs out of the water to stand up, the lower lip of the merman pushing forward in an instant, his body submerging back into the water until his chin touched the surface.

“You are leaving?” 

“Yeah, it’s about to get dark again.” 

Jinki looked at the horizon, darkness creeping in, the sun making room for the moon to rise. Feeling his heart ache at the thought of parting, Taemin wasn’t sure what to say and stared wordlessly at the human, not wanting him to leave.

“Are you upset?” 

When Taemin didn’t say anything Jinki squatted on his haunches at the water’s edge, tilting his head cutely. “I’ll come back, don’t worry.” 

“Tomorrow?”

Jinki smiled and nodded. “Tomorrow.”

“Early?”

A light chuckle. “Tomorrow will be Monday, Taemin. I’ll be working in the morning, but I’m going to head to the cliffs right after, okay?” 

The young merman eyed him doubtfully, still not fully grasping the concept of work that humans had. Jinki had told him that for him to be able to afford a roof over his head, food, and clothes he needed to have a steady job, but Taemin didn’t understand why. If he lived with Taemin there wasn’t a need for housing, food, or clothes. They could live near the waterfall and Taemin could hunt food for them, and Jinki could collect some in the woods. There was no need for the bills and coins the other carried around in his wallet. Jinki himself had told him that money only made things complicated, so in Taemin’s eyes, there was no need for the other to have it. 

“I will be waiting,” Taemin said a little reluctantly, already dreading the time he had to bridge before they would be reunited again.

“And I’ll make sure to show up quickly.”


	4. Chapter 4

Falling in love and developing feelings for a human, Taemin realized quite soon, was not what he had imagined it to be like, and it was certainly not what Jinki had told him. The human had made it out to be something beautiful and special, and while Taemin admitted that he learned new things about himself and about the way he interacted with his surroundings, the emotional turmoil inside of him was more exhausting than liberating, as he wasn't used to feeling the way he did, never having gone through the experience of falling in love before. The times when he didn't think about Jinki had become so scarce that whenever they occurred the merman was at a loss as if something was missing from his life, his heart leading him directly back to the human. On every occasion they were together Taemin tried his best to use all the little tricks he had learned from observing humans over the years, fluttered his eyelashes at Jinki, talked in a higher pitch to sound cute, performed little stunts for him to grab his attention and while all this helped to put a smile on Jinki’s face and draw a, “Taemin, you are cute,” out of him, it wasn’t enough.

Each time he saw the human he wanted to go back to hugging the other on the boulder at the waterfall or kissing him at the bottom of the cliffs, and while Jinki didn’t shy away from body contact and occasionally tugged his hair behind his ear or touched his arm gently, it seemed puny in comparison to what he had experienced already. Taemin didn’t want to appear ungrateful or unappreciative, especially considering that he knew that Jinki still dealt with the emotional aftermath of his breakup, but he wanted to shout at Jinki and tell him how much he liked him and how much he wanted to hug and kiss him again. Unbeknownst to him it was the excitement of a first love that bubbled deep inside his tummy and wanted to be shared, letting his logic driven brain be conquered by neglected emotions. 

By the middle of September the two of them had created their own little hideout at the waterfalls, Jinki having bought a tent and other practical things humans used for something Taemin had learned was called camping, the two of them having carried all the equipment from the cliffs to the waterfall over the span of a week. They spent more time at the waterfall now because Jinki enjoyed how quiet and secluded the area was, Taemin not minding the change of scenery as long as he was together with the human. 

It was just another Saturday with them staying at the waterfall, Jinki lying with his stomach on a bright pink air mattress which floated over the water, his head bedded on his crossed arms while Taemin was in a particularly playful mood, teasing the other by quickly swimming in circles beneath the mattress to make it spin, or splashing water at an unassuming Jinki with his fin to cause the other to cuss with a laugh. 

“Taeminnie, stop it now – I’m already feeling nauseous.” Jinki propped himself up on his elbows and chuckled after another attack, Taemin looking up at him, only the upper half of his face coming up out of the water which made him appear like a crocodile on the hunt. Jinki had started calling him ‘Taeminnie’ a while ago because he thought it sounded cute and whenever the young merman heard it now his heart fluttered in his chest as no one had ever given him a nickname before. 

He rose out of the water and swam closer. “Come inside,” Taemin probed as he held onto the edges of the mattress, kneading it a little, liking the squeaky sound it made. 

“I’m not in the mood for swimming today.” 

Taemin puffed up his cheeks and put on a deliberate frown, knowing that this face always made the other grin, and he was right, Jinki grimacing at first before he began to laugh, accusing the merman of playing unfair. 

“Water ball, please?”

Fluttering his eyelashes, Taemin tilted his head in a fashion he knew humans considered to be endearing. Throwing a ball around and trying to catch it had become one of Taemin’s most favorite activities ever since Jinki had brought a ball along to the cliffs. It was simple and fun and due to his quick reflexes, he always won against the human. 

“But we already played water ball today,” Jinki said and reached out to remove Taemin’s fingers from the air mattress one by one to try and paddle away from the young merman. It was just for show, Taemin knew, so he let the other get away for about two meters before he dove down and crept up on him, giving the mattress a push from underneath so Jinki plopped into the water with a loud splash. Waving about with his arms and legs, the human swam back up to the surface to catch air, surprise washing over him when Taemin playfully attacked him from behind and slung his arms around his torso. Taemin could have pulled him underwater easily but didn’t want to. Instead, he moved his tailfin a little more energetically to keep them both afloat. 

“Throwing unsuspecting humans into the water is not the way to go, Taemin.” 

Jinki tried to sound stern, but Taemin saw the corners of his lips curl and decided to ignore the other’s bickering and just leaned his head against his shoulder, holding him close. Though Jinki’s upper body was much broader and more trained in comparison to Taemin’s, the merman assumed that they would probably be of a similar height if he was human, but due to his long fishtail, Taemin’s body continued for another meter where Jinki’s feet stopped. Jinki’s arms came up to grasp Taemin’s wrists, not trying to pull them away, just holding onto them.

“You are like a baby koala,” Jinki snorted and Taemin could feel him still paddling with his feet underwater, despite it being unnecessary. 

“A baby koala?” he asked, the human still surprising him with words he had never heard before. He certainly knew what a baby was, but the word koala had never left Jinki’s lips until now. 

“If you let go I’ll show you on my phone.” 

“I could also just carry you to your phone,” Taemin suggested, Jinki’s phone lying safely on a rock near the pool. Jinki always placed it there, so it was easier to reach when he wanted to teach Taemin something new. He had shown him countries and monuments, food and animals, they had even watched a few cartoons on it together, one of them Jinki had considered incredibly funny while Taemin had eyed him skeptically, not understanding the humor of it at all. 

“You could, but you shouldn’t,” Jinki pointed out, a surrendering sigh leaving his lips and his fingers tightening their grip around Taemin’s wrists when the merman easily sunk onto his back and swam back to the shore, acting like Jinki’s air mattress. At first glance, someone might have thought that Taemin wouldn’t even be able to lift a sack of potatoes, but that was a trap as sea people were incredibly strong naturally which he liked to show off to Jinki. It was an instinct ingrained in his brain that he couldn’t shake off. He acted like a typical merman during rutting season, who wanted to impress potential partners with his strength. Despite having come out of age years ago, Taemin had never experienced these feelings, had never engaged with anyone before, and hadn’t even tried to impress anyone. Taemin simply hadn’t cared – until now at least – until he had met Jinki. 

It only took Taemin seconds to reach the water’s edge, Jinki not saying anything as Taemin turned them around effortlessly so he could reach his phone. He unlocked it quickly, a photo of a sunset popping up with the silhouette of a person visible at the bottom. The photo made Taemin smile whenever he saw it, because the silhouette in it was his. Jinki’s phone had been the most fascinating gadget the young merman had learned about so far, seeing himself in the camera, capturing moments with it, reading things on it, the possibility of being able to research anything there was. There seemed nothing this small, flat device wasn’t able to do. 

“Here – that’s a koala. They only live in Australia. That’s south from Japan. You would have to swim quite a while to get there,” Jinki explained casually while Taemin still held onto him, savoring every second he was allowed to just hug Jinki and enjoy the buzzing sensation underneath his skin. The screen showed two very fluffy gray creatures with roundish ears and blackish eyes, one of them much smaller and clinging to the bigger one. Taemin understood what Jinki had meant right away.

“Are you the big koala?” he asked, earning a light chuckle.

Jinki turned his head towards him. “Considering how much stronger you are, I might be the baby koala here.” 

“You can hold on to me,” Taemin answered him straightforwardly. Jinki patted his wrist with one hand and then placed his phone back onto the rocks. 

“It’s getting too cold for me. I’ll get out.” 

Taemin let him go unwillingly and looked after Jinki who pulled himself out of the pool. He hated the times when the other left him behind in the water the most because it was impossible for him to just follow. The human got undressed and hung up his swimming trunks over a rope he had fastened between two trees to let his clothes dry, Taemin blatantly staring at the human’s bottom as he crossed his arms on the edge of the water and rested his chin on them. Jinki was the first human Taemin had ever seen naked and despite having seen the other like that often by now after Jinki had asked him if it was okay for him to take off his clothes the first time, the fascination hadn’t faded. He wasn’t even sure what he had expected to see when a human undressed, but being presented with more hair and an extra limb which just existed in between Jinki’s legs all wrinkly and wobbly had certainly come as a surprise. Sex organs of sea people were hidden and didn’t just swing around for the world to see. To the merman the extra showing limb was just another proof that humans were far from being anatomically perfect, modeled after a design with too many flaws which would be easy for predators to exploit. 

Grabbing a blue towel from the rope, Jinki dried his hair as he walked over to a blanket he had laid out on a big stone and lay down on it, heaving out a small sigh when a few rays of sun touched his wet skin. 

“Do you want to come out as well? Do you need help?” 

Wrapping the towel around his neck, Jinki propped himself up on his elbows, looking at Taemin questioningly who only shook his head and let himself fall back into the water, hands stretched out above his head as he dove deeply into the pool, turned around swiftly and sped up to the surface, making a flip high up in the air, water splashing all over the place, and even reaching Jinki when his body touched the water again.

“Taemin,” Jinki whined loudly, “You’re unbelievable.” 

Jinki had never been angry with the young merman, no matter how many tricks and pranks he had pulled on him, even now he tried to sound serious but couldn’t hide his amusement, Taemin sometimes feeling like he could do about anything without the other getting mad. The human wiped drops of water out of his face with the end of the towel and then sat up to pick up the children’s plastic ball lying next to him, which had little fishes printed all over it, and threw it right at the merman. Taemin caught it eagerly, his tail shooting out of the water and kicking it back with the fin, the power of his stroke carefully regulated so it would go right back to Jinki and not fly into the forest which had happened quite often in the beginning because Taemin hadn’t known how powerful his fishtail was.

“I’m sure you would love soccer or basketball,” Jinki said as he threw the ball again and caught it with his right outstretched hand only seconds later. It was a back and forth for quite some time until Jinki capitulated and held onto the ball with both hands, Taemin never tiring out while the other was exhausted rather quickly. Jinki always claimed it was because Taemin was younger than him, but to the merman, it appeared like humans simply didn’t have the stamina and endurance sea people possessed which seemed only logical to him. Sea people were always on the run, their instincts trying to protect them from predators. They had to be alerted at all times unless they found spaces like the waterfall where they had no natural enemies to fear. 

Getting out of the pool was always a hassle because unlike the cliffs where the rocks were smooth and flat, the area around the pool mostly consisted of small pebbles which hurt Taemin’s fishtail when he tried to move around. Jinki had tried to make it easier for him by placing mats on the ground in the area where he had put up his tent, but Taemin still needed his help to get out which he hated immensely as he didn’t like to rely on others. But he was okay with giving up a bit of his independence when it meant that he could lie on the other’s arm in the sun with one arm wrapped around the human’s waist. 

“Jinki?”

“Mh?” 

Taemin tilted his head to look at the other whose eyes were closed, sunbeams falling onto his face, lightening his hair. The pink he had worn the first time they had met, had been completely washed out and had been replaced by a strawy blonde with a thick and very dark hairline. 

“If you could become like me – would you?” 

It was one of the many questions that had been occupying Taemin’s mind for a while now. He knew that it would be impossible since they weren’t living in a fairytale in which they could look for a sea witch to sell their voices to, but he still couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“You mean a merman?” 

Taemin nodded with a hum, forefinger poking Jinki’s navel playfully to see the other’s stomach twitch until Jinki grabbed his hand and held it in his. 

“I think I would. Maybe I would be able to beat you in water ball then,” Jinki joked, naturally intertwining their fingers, the gesture making the young merman only fall deeper for the human. He loved it when the other held hands with him. It was a simple gesture and yet so sincere, a connection between their bodies he never wanted to break again. “How about you? Would you become like me if you could?”

There was no hesitation when Taemin shook his head and said “No.” Becoming human as an adult would be too hard. He had no idea how the world outside of the ocean worked, he would be helpless despite having a pair of legs. “It would scare me.” 

Feeling the feather-light touch of Jinki’s fingers stroking his shoulder, Taemin closed his eyes and concentrated on the other’s heartbeat, the sound always steady and calming, never offbeat. 

“I understand that. The world is a scary place, society is scary, humans are scary,” Jinki concurred, fingertips wandering up to massage Taemin’s nape, sparks going off in his brain, his tailfin jerking. He liked the sensation of his skin getting touched, strengthening the wish of being closer to Jinki. 

“Sea people are scary too.”

The movement in Taemin’s nape stopped. “Is this why you never mention anyone? No family? No friends?”

“Yes,” Taemin whispered, wiggling his fingers out of Jinki’s grasp to play with the bracelet on his wrist, happy that the other kept wearing it. “I have never – belonged with them.” Gliding his finger over the little cowrie shell, he continued, “As soon as I was allowed to swim alone – I did.”

“And no one ever worried about you?” 

Taemin shook his head in earnest. “No – I am weird. They do not care.” 

When Jinki moved and sat up, Taemin blinked at him, his head slipping from the other’s arm onto the blanket. 

“Why would they think you are weird?” 

“Because I am not like them,” the merman began and followed Jinki’s lead by straightening up, pulling his fishtail closer to his chest to wrap his arms around it. “I like pretty, colorful things.” He pointed at the bracelets around his wrists, his necklace, and the extravagant earrings in his ears, one showing the silhouette of a crescent moon with little chains on it in gold, and the other having a yellow feather with pearls hanging from it. “And I like lazing around at the coast. Sea people do not do that.”

“We wouldn’t have met if you were like the others, Taemin. You are not weird at all. You just like different things, and that’s okay.” Jinki gave him a little encouraging nudge with his shoulder. 

“What about you?” Taemin asked then. “You do not mention anyone either – except – you know – him.” The young merman hated to hear the name of the man who had broken Jinki’s heart, a piercing feeling stinging him whenever the other mentioned it. 

“Yeah, well.” Jinki stared at the pool, balls of his feet tapping against the blanket. “I don’t have family in Seoul, that’s why I didn’t have a problem coming here.” He paused to take a deep breath. “My parents kind of – had a hard time accepting that I liked men so I distanced myself from them, and as for friends – all of them were Jonghyun’s friends as well and for some reason, they all thought they needed to choose sides, and I’m the one who stayed here – so,” he shrugged a little helplessly with his shoulders. “Let’s say – we don’t talk often anymore.”

Human relationships sounded incredibly complicated to Taemin, and he wasn’t sure whether he would ever be able to grasp their dynamic fully, they seemed so fragile, like something that constantly needed to be nurtured to stay alive. 

“Your parents do not like men?” 

For some reason, the question made Jinki grin and he turned his head towards Taemin, tilting it cutely. “No, it’s not like that. They do like men. It’s just that they don’t want to accept that I like men.”

Taemin frowned. “That sounds confusing.” 

“It surely is,” Jinki said with a smile though he looked a little despondent. “You don’t know these problems underwater?” 

“No, I told you – we do not have – relationships like humans do. We just get together once a year to make babies. It is not – about who we like – it is about making,” Taemin explained clumsily, the specks of gold in his fishtail reflecting beautifully in the sunlight. It was a nice contrast seeing his purple fishtail next to the human’s hairy legs that had tanned so much in the past few weeks they had spent together. 

“Sounds far less complicated, to be honest. All the more reason to become a merman.” 

Sighing loudly, Jinki’s head landed against Taemin’s shoulder and nestled against it.

“How many baby Taemins are swimming around in the ocean already?” 

“None,” the merman answered shortly, tapping his tailfin against the blanket the same way Jinki tapped his feet against it. Jinki looked up at him in surprise.

“None? Wait when – I mean – at what age do sea people usually start – you know?” he gestured around a little awkwardly, Taemin not understanding what he tried to say.

“Start what?” 

“Mating. At what age do sea people get together to make babies?” 

“At 18 – This is when we come of age,” Taemin answered right away, spotting a water strider that quickly moved over the water, the surface of the pond so calm that Taemin could see how its legs touched the pool, making it appear as if left little indents. 

“And your instincts or whatever never told you to persuade a mermaid?”

“No – I told you I am weird.” Taemin shrugged his shoulders, the water strider disappearing between reeds, leaving the merman with nothing to watch, the pool going back to looking tranquil. 

“Taeminnie, you are not weird.” There was another nudge to his shoulder, making him sway. He snorted slightly, another thing he had picked up from Jinki. It was interesting how he had picked up a lot of the other’s gestures and mannerisms over the past two months as if he was slowly absorbing him, trying to become more like him.

“You are the only one who thinks that.” 

Taemin sank back, eyes wandering down Jinki’s broad back and landing on the tip of the cleft parting his bottom. Anatomically it looked highly peculiar to Taemin, but maybe that made it so fascinating to him. 

“Humans do not have a mating season?” 

Jinki looked down at him over his shoulder, stifling a laugh. “No, our mating season lasts all year basically.”

“I am sorry.”

Apparently, Taemin’s reply was extremely funny to Jinki who began to laugh loudly and turned around to lie down on his stomach, bending his legs. “Yeah, sometimes I feel sorry for myself as well.” 

He bedded his head on one arm and reached out with the other to gently stroke a wet strand of hair out of Taemin’s face. The merman's heart rate increased again, hand reaching out to wrap his fingers around Jinki’s before he could pull them back. 

“Stay tonight?” 

Jinki hid his face in his arm, but Taemin could hear him sigh. “Tomorrow is Monday, Taeminnie. Some other time, hm?” 

“You always say some other time,” Taemin replied, sulking. “You brought all these things,” he pointed to the tent behind them which housed everything one needed to survive outside, even luxuries like a comfortable air mattress, a camp cooker, and books. 

“I know. I know,” Jinki admitted. “I know,” he repeated and looked back at Taemin. “Next Friday then, okay? It’s five days till then.”

Taemin eyed him uncertainly and lifted the pinkie finger of his other hand, something Jinki had taught him. “Promise?” he asked, content when Jinki clasped his pinkie around his. Humans used this small gesture to make a pledge that was not to be broken and Taemin liked the idea behind it, thinking of it as a magical bond.

“Promise.” 

When Friday came and Jinki showed up at the bottom of the cliffs right after work, still dressed in suit pants and a shirt, carrying around his usual bag, Taemin was over the moon. The sun was already sitting low in the sky, the days getting shorter as autumn approached. Jinki rolled up his pants and took off his shoes before he got into the boat with Taemin’s help and the two of them set off onto their regular journey to the waterfall. They harmonized so well in everything they did at this point that all their movements were synchronized, from the time Taemin pulled the boat into the water and Jinki got into it, to the moment he got out of it again to pull it out of the water. It made the merman happy to see how well they worked together, how they understood each other without using words, one look enough to get their point across. To Taemin, it felt like they had developed their own language and communicated almost like people from the sea with each other. 

Next to a lot of food for the two of them, Jinki had brought extra batteries for the flashlight lying in his tent and extra oil and lighters for the tilly lamp to make sure that they wouldn’t end up sitting in the dark, not that it would have been a problem for the merman.

They took an evening swim in the pool, Taemin certain of victory that day as he floated on a high at the thought of finally spending a night with Jinki, wrestled with the other abundantly, liking how close they got whenever the other tried to free himself out of his grasp. Their little playful banter always ended with Jinki flying through the air, and splashing loudly into the water, mumbling how it wasn’t fair that Taemin looked so fragile and weak but could easily unroot a tree if he wanted to when he came up to catch air. 

As it got dark Jinki lit the oil lamp and heated the meat he had brought for them to eat, his body all huddled up in a soft-looking sweatshirt and sweats as they sat in their little night’s lodging. Cicadas could be heard all around them, a constant low buzzing that had ingrained itself in their heads that they didn’t even notice it anymore.

“Do you want to sleep in the tent or the water?” Jinki asked as his chopsticks swirled through the ceramic bowl to heat the pieces of marinated beef evenly. 

“With you,” Taemin said without thinking, eating a piece of dry seaweed as a snack. He still preferred seaweed freshly plucked from the ocean, but its dried variant had a nice flavor to it as well and he liked how it crackled between his teeth and softened on his tongue. 

“For how long can you stay out of the water without your fishtail drying out?” 

Jinki looked up at him, quizzical. Taemin shrugged because he didn’t know. All his life he had made sure to not stay out of water for more than an hour or to at least have parts of his fishtail covered by water when he decided to spend the night at the cliffs. 

“I am not sure. A few hours maybe? It is dark, so it is not so hot.” He reached out for the small container with the dried seaweed and took another piece, crunching on it while Jinki prepared their food, his face flickering in the light of the oil lamp. Taemin liked watching the shadows dance over Jinki’s features, his dark eyes appearing as if small stars were caught inside of them.

“Maybe I can fill a bucket of water and we cover your fishtail with wet towels? Just to make sure that you will be okay? That’s what people do with stranded dolphins to keep them safe.” 

“I am not –,” Taemin wanted to protest right away, but Jinki rose a hand to interrupt him when a deep frown appeared on his forehead.

“I know and it’s not what I said nor implied. But it’s a fact that your bottom half is aquatic and needs to stay wet. If you want to stay with me in the tent we need to make sure that both parts of you are comfortable,” Jinki said pragmatically, preventing Taemin from complaining further. A little grudgingly the young merman took a bite of his seaweed piece, his fishtail twitching agitatedly. He loved his fishtail, but ever since he had met Jinki he also saw its disadvantages. If he had legs they wouldn’t need to go through all the trouble, he could just slip inside the tent and huddle up in Jinki’s arms. There wouldn’t even be a need for a tent in the first place, they could go to Jinki’s place instead. Sometimes he daydreamed of waking up next to Jinki as a human, share an apartment with him, slip into one of his t-shirts in the morning before making them breakfast. Jinki had told him so much about the daily life of a human and had showed him so many pictures of his apartment that Taemin found himself being caught between dream and reality, questioning his own perception, thinking that he knew what it felt like to have two legs. 

“I have never slept in a bed before,” Taemin said to change the topic and cast a glance inside the tent, the mattress so wide that three people could fit comfortably on it, Jinki having placed a blanket and pillows on it to make it look homely as he had claimed, though Taemin hadn’t been sure what he had meant by that, considering he had never seen the real interior of a house aside from pictures.

Pulling the sleeves of his sweatshirt over his hands, Jinki removed the ceramic bowl from the fire and placed it on the blanket between them, Taemin picking up the chopsticks Jinki had prepared for him. They were smaller than Jinki’s and were attached to each other to make it easier to eat with them. There were even little decorative blowfishes fastened at the top. Taemin still didn’t understand fully why eating with his hands was considered unhygienic in Jinki’s eyes, especially since it took him so long to eat with chopsticks, every piece of meat landing in his mouth the result of hard work and determination. 

“And I’ve never shared a bed with a merman. So it’s a first for both of us.” 

Jinki smiled at him and opened a container with rice and another one with kimchi. Taemin had eaten kimchi only once and had decided that he hated it, not liking how spicy and sour it tasted, his tongue feeling weird after swallowing it. It was the only dish that Jinki still brought along despite Taemin not liking it as he saw it as a compulsory side dish he couldn’t live without.

They shared their meal in quiet and listened to the surrounding noises instead, every sound enhanced in darkness, the rustling of leaves, and the movements of animals rushing through the thicket. The calls of owls echoed through the night, and Jinki looked up now and then, telling Taemin that the last time he had slept outside in nature had been as a young child and that the sounds of the city at night were different; drunken people yelling at each other, sirens of police cars and ambulances echoing through the streets, the clinking of glasses and plates, music blasting through closed windows. 

Jinki didn’t wash their plates in the pool when they had finished eating, didn’t want to risk spoiling the water and instead piled everything up in a plastic bag and hid it in his rucksack, so no wild animals would raid their little camp in the middle of the night to eat the remaining bits of food. He prepared a bucket with water after that and placed it at the entrance of the tent before brushing his teeth, Taemin having never seen the other do that before. Jinki gave him toothpaste to smell, the young merman immediately recoiling at the strong scent, making the other chuckle with a toothbrush in his mouth. 

“So, do you think you will manage to get inside by yourself?” Jinki asked after he had placed another mat in front of the tent’s entrance to even the path for Taemin, who still sat in the light of the oil lamp, having watched the other patiently preparing for bed. It had been a whole list of things Jinki had worked off while Taemin usually just huddled up in a bed of seaweed to hide from predators and fell asleep. 

“Maybe I need your help to get on the mattress,” Taemin explained while Jinki had crouched down at the side of the tent, watching him patiently. He knew that Jinki didn’t mind his clumsiness on land, but to Taemin, it still felt awkward whenever he couldn’t move freely and all his strength was reduced to his arms with which he pulled himself over to the tent. Getting through the entrance and onto the mattress was the hardest part, but Jinki helped him, lifting his fishtail so Taemin could slip inside, the tent too small to fit all of him inside, the fin of his tail still hanging outside. It was odd lying in such a small enclosed space, the tent dark, the air mattress beneath him incredibly soft. It would be so easy for predators to find them here and there was only one exit, making it almost impossible to escape. 

“I’ll be right with you. I’ll just extinguish the lamp before we are going to cause a fire,” Jinki said and Taemin heard his feet moving around the little camp area. A short moment after the light in front of the tent died out the other cursed loudly, Taemin’s body instantly on the alert.

“Are you okay?” he asked worriedly, Jinki simply replying with “Yeah, don’t worry. I just should have turned the lamp off after getting to the tent and not before that.” A few more curse words were falling from the other’s lips, some clattering, and rattling, and then the tent shook violently, Taemin flinching when the other fell onto the mattress next to him, making him bounce up a bit. Jinki fumbled around until he found the flashlight in the dark and turned it on, the tent glowing up in an orange light.

“I think I might wake up with a few bruises tomorrow,” he chuckled sheepishly and fastened the flashlight to a twine at the top of the tent. After that he zipped up the fly screen, only leaving the last bit open so Taemin could turn around without his fishtail getting stuck in the tent door.

“Are you comfortable?” Jinki asked, at last, looking Taemin up and down as the young merman still tried to adapt to the new environment, not used to be pillowed like the princesses Jinki had told him about, who lived in palatial castles. 

“Not sure,” he admitted when the other lay down next to him and spread the blanket over both of their bodies, the blanket too short to cover the merman completely. 

“Just wake me up when something is wrong, okay?” 

“You already want to sleep?” 

Taemin blinked, the vibration of Jinki’s chuckle floating through his body. The other shook his head and reached out a hand to stroke Taemin’s hair which was mostly dry now, looking slightly rumpled from never getting combed and being wet most of the time. 

“No, I just wanted to point it out,” Jinki reassured him and grabbed a pillow to lie his head on it, squirming and wiggling around until a sigh left his lips and he stopped moving. They looked at each other for a while, the familiar pull in Taemin's tummy intensifying again as he wanted to breach the distance between them and kiss the other. It would be a perfect moment to do, but he wasn’t sure if the other would be appreciative of his advances. Taemin knew that Jinki liked him, but wasn’t sure if he liked him as a friend – or potentially as something else. 

“I found old photos yesterday.” Taemin was pulled out of his fantasies when the other began to talk in a low voice, his head resting on his hands.

“Photos?”

“Mmh.” Jinki nodded and lowered his gaze. “Jonghyun texted me – apparently he forgot taking some documents with him and only noticed it now.”

Taemin wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear the rest of the story, a twinge tugging at his heart. It only ever occurred when Jinki mentioned the other man, and Taemin didn’t know what this feeling was, maybe a curse, or maybe the human’s name was jinxed, causing discomfort to anyone who heard it. 

“So I looked for them and found old photos from our college days. We were both so young and so in love,” Jinki told with a sad-looking sigh, another stab right into the merman’s chest whose fingers fiddled around with the edge of the blanket. 

“I do not –” Taemin paused and nibbled on his bottom lip, not sure if he should continue to speak or swallow his words in hope that the painful feeling would pass by itself. 

“What is it?” 

He took a deep breath and then looked up at Jinki. “I do not like it when you talk about him.” Taemin was relieved when the words had left his mouth, visible surprise showing on Jinki’s features.

“Why is that?”

Taemin shrugged a little helplessly, his tongue swiping along his bottom lip as he pressed a hand on his chest. “It hurts here when you do.” 

Jinki’s features softened and Taemin felt him scoot a little closer, hand reaching out to stroke his hair. 

“Are you jealous?” 

“Jealous? What is that?” 

Pursing his lips, a hum left Jinki’s mouth which was usually a sign of him trying to figure out how to explain something to Taemin in the simplest way possible. 

“It’s when you feel unhappy or angry because someone else has something that you would like to have as well,” he explained gently, fingertips stroking down Taemin’s cheek, thumb touching his lips only for the fleetest of moments, but making them prickle nonetheless. 

“Maybe I am jealous then,” Taemin figured, Jinki’s thumb slipping down to his chin. 

Jinki looked at him without saying anything, Taemin’s chin still cupped between his fingers. “But that would imply that you like me and you told me that sea people don’t care about love.” 

Taemin’s gaze dropped again as he looked for the right words, wanting to lie the world to Jinki’s feet, but all his lips left were the words “I told you I am weird.” 

Despite wanting to come across as serious, Jinki still snickered silently, fingers going up to thread through his hair, detangling a strand, whispering his name “Taeminnie” in the softest tone.

There was a shift in the atmosphere, Taemin could feel it in every fiber of his body, but didn’t know whether the other could feel it too, like the darkening of the sky before a storm, the moment you knew lightning would hit soon, you just didn’t know when exactly it would happen. He swallowed visibly when Jinki inched closer, the other’s knee coming in contact with his fishtail. Taemin didn’t dare to move, pulse drumming in his ears, eyes falling shut when the other pressed his lips against his; soft and careful, testing if it was okay to do so. The feeling was different compared to the kiss they had shared at the cliffs, be it due to their position or the way their mouths touched. The merman could feel the kiss with his whole body, his scalp tingling, his guts tumbling, his fin trembling. 

When Jinki pulled away, Taemin’s eyes snapped open and he looked straight at the other’s dark brown ones, lips slightly agape, his pulse only getting louder, drowning out everything else. 

“What was that?” Taemin heard himself ask, his voice shaking.

The other’s reply was simple, “A kiss.” 

“Why?” 

Jinki hesitated visibly, fingers curling around Taemin’s ear, pads running along the shell, playing with the earring in it. “Because I like you?” 

Taemin was dumbfounded, helplessly pointing at himself. “Me?”

He had witnessed so many confessions in his life, the embarrassing ones, the sappy ones, the ones in which people began to cry, and the others in which they fell in each other’s arms. One could have thought that Taemin would be able to handle a confession like a play, knowing all the words in the script and able to recite every line, but he had never imagined to find himself in such a situation.

“Yeah, you.” Jinki smiled kindly, Taemin pressing his lips together, trying to concentrate. He recalled all the confessions he had overheard in the past, the words, the reactions, the expression on people’s faces, and their attitude and posture, none of them helpful. 

“I like you too,” he admitted, words falling so easily from his lips as if they had lingered at the tip of his tongue, waiting to be said out loud for so long. The corners of Jinki’s eyes creased as his smile widened, Taemin's heart about to burst out of his chest. Wanting to touch the other again he leaned forward, Jinki not pulling away when Taemin’s lips landed on his.

Never having done anything like this before Taemin was clumsy as he moved his lips against the other’s too eagerly, and tried to imitate what he had seen humans do for so long, Jinki smiling at his attempts and taking the lead after a while, slowing him down, teaching him patience, fingers landing in his nape, digging into his skin, pulling him closer. Instead of rushing and falling over his greed, Taemin followed the other’s guidance, responded to his movements rather than initiating any of his own, want pulling at his limbs, hands reaching forward to fist in Jinki’s sweater, needing something to hold onto.

When Jinki eventually ended the kiss to catch air his cheeks were beautifully flushed, and his eyes glazed over as he looked at Taemin, who felt as if he had been bewitched, his mind dazed, every inch of his body tingling. There must have been some magic behind a kiss that he didn’t understand, his complete body ablaze and needing.

“My whole body is –,” Taemin wasn’t sure what word seemed appropriate and used his hand instead, making it shake hectically. He wanted more of that tingling, wanted to see if it was possible to enhance it further if there were limits to the sensations he felt.

“Mine too.” 

Jinki touched his cheek and then moved closer again to give him a peck, Taemin holding him in place when he wanted to move away again. 

“I want more of that,” he whispered headily, adding a little “please” for good measure, breath hitching in his throat. Jinki complied with his wish without second-guessing it, Taemin drowning in a sea of sensations he hadn’t known he was capable of. 

It had been impossible for the merman to fall asleep that night, his body still processing all the sensations hours later. His fishtail was wrapped in wet towels and Jinki lay next to him, his sweatshirt gone, and one of his arms wrapped around Taemin’s waist. They hadn’t talked much after, just smiling at each other before Jinki had covered him in towels, had turned off the flashlight and had snuggled up against him, Taemin’s heart not wanting to calm down, still feeling Jinki’s lips on him as small burning marks under his skin. The light in the tent changed as time progressed, blacks replaced by grays before the first rays of sun dipped through the cracks and covered them in warmth and light. Jinki looked handsome lying next to him and at first didn’t wake up when Taemin’s fingers danced over his shoulders and touched his hair curiously, only reacting when Taemin’s thumb brushed over his lips. Startling a little when Jinki opened his eyes, Taemin’s hand retracted instantly. 

“For how long have you been awake already?” Jinki held his palm in front of his mouth as he yawned and stretched his limbs, the blanket they had been covered with discarded somewhere at the foot of the tent. 

“I did not sleep.”

Jinki rubbed his eyes tiredly, removing the grit in the corner of his eyes with a frown before he placed his hand on Taemin’s cheek, stroking it. “Are you a vampire?”

Taemin blinked. “Vampire?”

Fingers swiped to his upper lip and pulled it up slightly, Taemin’s forehead creasing when Jinki looked at his teeth. “Mmh – I don’t think you are.” He grinned, face looking drowsy from sleep but so attractive that the young merman wanted to continue where they had left off the night before. 

“What is a vampire?” he asked again, Jinki’s hand gliding down his neck and chest, coming to a halt at his hip, shortly above the spot where his skin turned to scales. 

“Mythical creatures – but considering that mermaids are supposed to be mythical creatures as well – they might be real,” Jinki began to explain, his voice hoarse and breathy. “They are undead – so they are neither alive nor dead. To survive they drink the blood of humans and have very sharp fangs like sharks.”

Jinki pointed at his teeth, the canines not looking like they could bite anything badly enough to draw blood. “They don’t age and at least in modern times are always depicted as these very beautiful beings who first entice you and then seduce you. Depending on the source they either don’t sleep at all or they sleep during the day because they can’t be out in the sun. It would burn them to ashes. Though in some obscure cases they just sparkle.” 

Taemin blinked again, putting the puzzle pieces Jinki had laid out in front of him together one by one. Though Jinki always talked a little slower when he explained something, Taemin still had trouble understanding him sometimes. 

“Humans,” he replied, looking deeply concentrated. “They have a big imagination.” 

Jinki began to snicker, hand slipping over to the small of Taemin’s back, pulling him a little closer, the merman’s skin buzzing at the deliberate and confident touch. “They surely do – there are tons of stories about mermaids as well. But none of them match the things you’ve told me. So who knows what’s really going on with vampires? Maybe they love the sun and have their vacations on Hawaii, drinking Piña Colada.” 

The human laughed at his own words, only falling quiet when he saw that Taemin didn’t laugh along with him. “It’s – Piña Colada is a fruity cocktail and Hawaii is a very sunny chain of islands. It’s –” he sighed after a moment and stopped gesturing around with his hands. “It’s not funny anymore if I have to explain it.”

“I am sorry.”

Jinki shook his head. “Not your fault. I’m just rambling.” He said and leaned forward to press a kiss to Taemin’s lips, the merman immediately complying with his approach and kissing him back, hands grasping his hips and pulling him on top of him easily as his tongue breached the seam of Jinki's mouth. The human grinned into their kiss, Taemin could feel it in the curve of his lips. 

“I don’t know if it’s a turn-on or a turn-off for me that you can lift me so easily, acting like I’m weighing nothing at all.” Jinki pulled his lip between his teeth as he sank back, elbows resting on either side of Taemin’s head, fingers easing through his sprawled out lavender-colored hair. 

“Turn-on, turn-off?” Taemin asked innocently, his hands resting on Jinki’s waist, the other’s skin warm and soft. If it had been up to him to decide they would have stayed in that tent forever, never leaving the waterfall again. Taemin had never felt so at home like he did with the human in their small secret haven. Jinki buried his face into Taemin’s neck, snorting softly, the vibration shooting through the merman’s body so intense that his fishtail contorted, the fin hitting the soil in front of the tent. 

“You call something a turn-on when you find something very exciting – it’s mostly used in a se –” Jinki restrained himself and shook his head, pressing a peck to Taemin’s cheek before climbing down from him. “Never mind,” he said instead and looked for the sweater he had taken off during the night. “Let’s keep that for another time. Basically, it’s something you really like or in the case of a turn-off, don’t like.”

Taemin nodded feebly, thinking about all the things he liked about Jinki, the list getting longer and longer in his head as he watched the other pull his sweater over his head, naked skin disappearing beneath woven wool. 

He tried to make use of the word, putting it into practice by saying, “It is a turn-on when you smile,” only to earn an amused little smile in response.

“Is that so?” Jinki asked him with a cocked eyebrow and a mischievous grin, kneeling on the air mattress with his hands on his thighs. He sniggered lightly and leaned forward to give Taemin a peck on the forehead, telling him that he was cute when the merman nodded zealously. 

“Let’s get you out of that tent, mh?” Jinki said then and removed the towels from Taemin’s fishtail one by one, palm running over the scales. The sensation was different compared to the ones on his skin, duller somehow almost uncomfortable even, as if Jinki needed to use more pressure to elicit the sweet tingling in the pit of Taemin’s stomach that he liked so much. 

“Your scales are very pretty, they have this nice shine to them, and I like the golden specks in between them,” Jinki pointed out before he opened the tent door. “I don’t even know what time it is.” 

He crawled out of the tent first and stretched with a groan before he crouched in front of the entrance and looked inside. “Do you need help?” 

Taemin shook his head and carefully tried to turn around to leave the tent with his head first, the attempt hopeless, his fishtail only bumping against the tent’s entrance over and over again. It had been easier to get inside. “Maybe I do need help,” he admitted shyly, Jinki smiling at him and then thinking for a moment. 

“No problem, always at your service,” Jinki said eventually and climbed back into the tent, one leg on each side of Taemin. “Put your arms around my neck.”

Taemin did as he was told without questioning it, slinging his arms around the other and watching him place his arms around his hips before lifting him a bit. It wasn’t much, only enough to move him, knees skidding over the mattress as Jinki maneuvered them around, slowly and carefully as he made sure not to hurt Taemin. He grunted a little as he carried the other backward out of the tent, a sigh of relief falling from his lips when he let the merman sink down on the mat in front of the tent. In retrospect, Taemin would have probably managed on his own somehow, but clinging onto Jinki with his breath ghosting over his shoulders had been nice.

Jinki was scarlet red when he plumped down on his butt next to Taemin and combed his tousled hair, mist wafting over the pool in the background, a few frogs giving a small concert early in the morning. 

“Thank you.” With that Taemin robbed the rest of the way, magically drawn to the pool, part of him craving the feeling of sinking into the cool liquid and dive down. He didn’t feel complete without it, no matter how nice it had been to spend the night with Jinki in the tent. It was the ocean he belonged to not the land. As soon as his fin touched the surface of the water he became more impatient, trying to overcome the last bit of the strenuous path quickly, heart jumping in his chest when he finally did, the water engulfing him within seconds, vitalizing his spirits, skin absorbing the droplets, his fishtail making him spin. He dove down to the ground and combed through his hair, his arms stretching out and reaching up as he twirled around until he got dizzy. 

Jinki was already preparing breakfast when he came back up after dabbling in the pool for a while. He swam to the edge of the water and came up to rest his head on his arms, watching Jinki crouch in front of the camping cooker and warm up some soup. 

“It’s only past 6 am. We should have stayed inside the tent,” Jinki announced, his hair still standing in all directions, a small pout on his lips. “I guess nature makes you wake up early,” he added with a yawn, and then looked over at Taemin. “Happy to be back inside the water?” 

Taemin nodded silently, his fishtail gently swaying around. He wanted Jinki to join him in the water, but the other didn’t appear fully awake yet, still yawning every few seconds, eyes small and puffy. Later they shared some soup in comfortable silence, Taemin staying inside the water with a small bowl standing on the rocks in front of him while Jinki sat next to the camping cooker, slurping his soup loudly. Their day started slowly, Taemin taking a few more turns inside the water while Jinki brushed his teeth and washed his face, complaining about the cold temperature of the water. Afterward, Jinki grabbed a book and the blanket from the tent and lay down at the shore, holding hands with Taemin while teaching him how to read with the help of a children’s book he had bought. He had chosen the book because it told the story of a young merman who discovered the ocean together with a dolphin. The book was designed for kindergarteners, the texts short and the pages covered in drawings, Jinki helping Taemin with every word by underlining it with his finger, pronouncing each of them loud and clear several times before it was the merman’s turn. They had started with learning the alphabet first weeks ago and then how different vowels and consonants sounded together before they had gone over to reading actual sentences, Taemin being a fast learner, motivated by the praise he received whenever he read a word out loud without any help. 

As a reward Jinki played water ball with Taemin, the young merman letting Jinki lead for a while by missing the ball on purpose, wanting him to believe that he stood a decent chance against him, in the hope that the other would continue to play with him in the future as well. If one lost a game too many times in a row they naturally lost all motivation – sea people and humans were pretty much the same in that regard. His plan, however, proved to be unsuccessful because Jinki saw right through him, eyeing him doubtfully when he hit next to the ball for the fifth time in a row. 

“Are you letting me win?” he asked when Taemin swam towards the ball floating calmly on the water’s surface. The merman shook his head a little too energetically, Jinki beginning to laugh as he swam towards him. 

“Taeminnie, you are hurting my ego.” 

He slung his arms and legs around Taemin from behind, the other looking over his shoulder in surprise as he reached for the ball. 

“Ego?” 

“Yes, the opinion of myself, about my abilities, and so on. I was always super good in water ball, but playing it with you makes me question everything,” he chuckled, placing his chin onto the other’s shoulder. Taemin liked the closeness, but it also made him wonder what they were, what he was to Jinki. If he was a mere distraction or more than that. Not knowing how to touch on the subject, Taemin let it be, placed his hands onto Jinki instead, and ignored the ball. 

“Hold on to me,” he said simply and then began to shoot forward, the grip of Jinki’s arms tightening around him. Taemin swam along the river leading into the open ocean, warmth hitting their skin as they left the sanctuary of the woods, their ears soon hearing the familiar sound of waves hitting the shore. Taemin made sure Jinki was safe on his back, held onto him protectively as he broke through the water, overcoming the crossing between freshwater to saltwater, and only slowing down when he was in the open sea. Jinki’s grip loosened gradually and he looked around, the passage to their little hideout at least two kilometers away, seagulls circling above their heads. 

“Whatever you do, don’t leave me alone here,” were the first words that left his mouth, the sea calm and steady underneath their bodies. 

“I would not,” Taemin assured him and turned around in the other’s embrace to look at him. “The ocean is pretty, right?” 

There was nothing around them, just the endless sea, and that thought seemed to scare the human, his fingertips holding onto Taemin’s shoulders, not daring to let go. “I like it more when the shore is in visible distance.”

“Are you scared?” 

Taemin’s hands rested comfortably on Jinki’s hips, the surging of the waves around them, making them sway. “You do not have to. I am here,” he added before Jinki could say anything, fingertips rubbing soothing circles into his hips, something he had noticed Jinki liked.

“Hold your breath.” 

“Are we diving down?” Jinki’s eyes widened a little, his forehead creasing when Taemin nodded. The human clung to the merman as they descended into the water, Jinki’s eyes closed and his cheeks puffed up. It was a cute sight and in the next moment Taemin took the other down to the ground to pluck some seaweed, one hand securely holding onto Jinki, the other's fingers digging into his skin. The small dive took less than twenty seconds and when they came up to surface level again, Jinki opened his eyes and struggled for air, Taemin looking at him in amusement. 

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” 

Jinki still had his legs crossed behind Taemin’s back, seemingly not wanting to let go out of fear he would drown, the merman enjoying having the other’s chest pressed against his.

“Here.” He held up the seaweed he had plucked from the ocean’s floor, Jinki looking at it skeptically. 

“I have eaten fresh seaweed before – but it was washed and seasoned before that,” he explained, Taemin already taking a bite from the slimy green plant, munching on it with nothing but delight on his face.

“It is good – try it,” he persuaded the other, cheeks filled with seaweed. With a sigh Jinki gave in and took a piece, gnawing on it a little unwillingly. “The farther you are out in the ocean the better it is.”

“It’s very salty.” The grimace Jinki pulled made Taemin chuckle. Jinki had shared so many things from his life on land that Taemin wanted to at least show him some parts of his life in the ocean. 

“It is good for you. Makes you strong,” he claimed, Jinki eyeing him doubtfully.

“Do you think I become as strong as you if I eat it every day?” 

Taemin narrowed his eyes and curled his lips. “Probably not.” 

The two of them began to laugh, Taemin finishing Jinki’s piece when the human couldn’t muster up the courage to eat more. Their trip to the open ocean was only a short one, the merman bringing them back to the little pool after he had finished his second breakfast of the day. While Jinki lazed around naked on his blanket near the pool, basking in the sparse sunlight that hit the floor like a marine iguana, Taemin carried out little tricks to grab his attention, balancing the water ball on his head or rolling it from one arm to the other.

“Jinki look,” he exclaimed each time, bounced the ball on his head or with his fin, the other turning around on his stomach to watch him properly with a smile on his face. Taemin wasn’t sure what was necessary to impress a human, what he needed to do to banish all thoughts Jinki still wasted on the other human and make him think only about the merman instead. He concentrated all his energy on trying to win Jinki over, but as the sun began to set, the human decided to drive home instead of spending a second night with Taemin, the young merman feeling rejected, heart torn into two. 

“Why do you want to go home? Are you angry with me?” he asked as Jinki collected garbage and dirty clothes and stuffed all of it into his rucksack. 

“I just need some time for myself, Taeminnie. This has nothing to do with you,” Jinki reassured him and stopped for a moment to look at him. 

“Do not go,” Taemin begged, a sigh falling from the other’s lips as he came up to the pool and crouched down in front of it. 

“Taemin, I can’t stay here all the time.”

“Why?” Taemin stayed stubborn, his eyes narrowing which resulted in Jinki sighing deeply.

He rubbed his brow. “We had this so often already, didn’t we? I have a job, Taemin. I need to work, I need to prepare things for it as well.” 

Jinki’s reasoning fell on deaf ears as Taemin’s eyes darkened, his bottom lip pushing forward like a child’s whose parents hadn’t allowed them to watch cartoons before bedtime. “But you kissed me,” he said out of all things he could have, Jinki’s brows furrowing. 

“Taeminnie.” Another sigh and Jinki tried to reach out to touch Taemin’s hair only to grab air when the other pulled his head away, swimming a little backward. 

“I will not help you to get back,” the merman sulked and crossed his arms in front of his chest, Jinki smiling mildly at him. 

“Taemin, don’t be angry with me now.” 

“I am not angry,” Taemin claimed, looking at Jinki’s naked feet instead of his face.

“You aren’t?” 

He shook his head. “No, I am sad.” He turned his back on the other then and swam to the other side of the pool, the furthest he could go without actually leaving it. He didn’t know how long he stayed there without moving until he heard Jinki pushing the rubber boat back into the water. There was some grunting and Taemin assumed that the other had trouble getting into the boat by himself, but the merman was stubborn and stayed in his spot, not liking how much his chest ached. 

“Are you coming with me?” 

When he didn’t react he could hear the sound of paddles break through the surface of the water in a steady alternating fashion until the other was right behind him. 

“Taemin, come on. Don’t be like that now. I’ll be back tomorrow. I promise.” 

“You always say that,” Taemin murmured, plucking at moss that grew on the rocks surrounding the pool.

“And it’s always true.” 

“I do not want you to leave me all the time. It is lonely without you.” 

Staring at the rocks in front of him, he tugged at the moss more violently, not liking the idea of having to spend time alone again. Until he had met Jinki, Taemin had been used to the loneliness, had treated like a friend because he hadn’t known another state of being, but with Jinki’s arrival in his life everything had changed, and going back to a state of loneliness was the worst feeling. He flinched when he felt a familiar hand in his neck, thumb stroking up and down in a reassuring manner. 

“I can imagine that, Taemin. And I’m sorry – I just,” he halted to take a deep breath, fingers gliding over to Taemin’s shoulder. “I just don’t know how to change that.”

Taemin turned around then, tears pooling in the corners of his eyes. “Stay here.”

“You know I can’t.”

The young merman reached for Jinki’s hand and enclosed it in his, pressing his fingertips into his skin.

“Then take me with you.” 

“Taemin.” He tilted his head, looking compassionate. “You know that’s impossible.”

Taemin’s bottom lip began to quiver and he bit on it, pulling at its flesh until it hurt. “Would you take me with you if I were like you?” 

Jinki’s forehead creased. “What are you even talking about? We’re not in a fairytale, Taemin.” 

“What if I chopped it off then?” 

“Taemin, what nonsense is this?” Jinki sighed, sounding almost frustrated now while Taemin felt the first tear roll down in his cheek. “I don’t ever want you to say something like that, okay? You are perfect just the way you are.” 

“But it is this stupid fishtail’s fault that I cannot come with you.”

“That’s not true and you know it. If we argued like this we could also say that it’s my stupid legs’ fault that I can’t stay with you,” Jinki explained, trying to bring reason into their conversation. 

“But the sea people do not stay together. It is different,” Taemin gnawed on the inside of his cheek, blinking when Jinki’s other hand reached forward to brush his tears away with his thumb. 

“As you know humans don’t always stay together either,” he said mildly, framing Taemin’s cheek with his palm. There was a soft sob falling from Taemin’s lips and he raised his shoulders to pull himself together as he didn’t want to cry in front of Jinki. 

“But do you want to stay together with me?” 

Jinki pushed a strand behind his ear, fingertips gently caressing the shell of his ear. “I treasure you a lot Taemin and the time we spend together.”

“But?”

“There is no but,” Jinki shook his head. “I just want to continue spending time with you, but you have to accept that I can’t be here all the time.”

“That is hard,” Taemin sighed, visibly frustrated, his fishtail whipping nervously beneath the water.”

“I know,” Jinki admitted, thumb stroking over his lips. “But I’ll be back. You don’t have to worry about that – _ever_!” 


	5. Chapter 5

****

Summer bid its final farewell to greet the arrival of autumn, leaves turning from green to red and yellow, the sea becoming more tumultuous as October approached, couples avoiding the coast, replacing the romantic setting of the ocean with the warmth of cute cafés. It rained heavily as Taemin waited for Jinki, small puddles of water forming in the immersion of the stones, the merman’s hair sticking to his forehead as he looked up the cliffs, vision blurred from the raindrops lashing at him. 

It had rained plenty in the past few weeks, but never that much, Taemin worrying whether the other would even show up as his body moved with the waves, his fishtail stirring beneath the water’s surface to keep him afloat. Relief washed over him as he finally spotted the other at the top of the cliffs, who climbed over the wooden fence, draped in a raincoat and carrying a black umbrella in his hand. As summer had disappeared so had the blond on Jinki’s head, the bright color replaced by an auburn brown which was covered by the raincoat's hood. 

“The weather forecast said that there will be a storm tonight.” Jinki almost yelled it, his voice drowned out by the waves crashing against the bay, the wind picking up around them, and trying to wrench the umbrella from Jinki’s hand, pulling it to the side. 

“No waterfall?” Taemin called back, disappointment audible in his voice as he stroked hair out of his face and tried to get closer. The sky was dark with a yellow tint, indicating the approach of a thunderstorm. The merman could feel it in his fin, water electrified, roaring restlessly underneath the surface. 

“I promised I would stay tonight.” 

Taemin’s heart made a little jump, the tingling in his chest not caused by the waves around him but by the other’s words.

“But it is not safe,” he reasoned, water falling into his mouth and his eyes. He blinked repeatedly, would have stayed underwater if it wasn’t for the human, his body drawn back with the next wave, burying him for a second before he came up again. 

“You’ll keep us safe, right?” 

Jinki walked over to the little rubber boat which was filled with water to the brim. He pushed it over to empty it, Taemin swimming over to the shore. 

“Of course,” Taemin said with determination, helping to get the boat into the water, its prow soaring as waves crashed against it, the merman trying to get a hold on the rope tied around it. He would never let anything happen to the human, even if it meant that he had to risk his own life for it. 

Taemin had a hard time fighting against the waves that evening, water splashing in from all sides, Jinki clawing his hands into the boat. 

“Are you okay?” Taemin yelled from time to time, barely seeing anything through the foamy water, trying to orientate himself by the cliffs to their right. One high wave almost made them capsize, Taemin reflexively grabbing Jinki by his arm when the other was about to fall out of the boat, not letting him go until they reached the narrow river, his hand convulsed by the time they reached it. He sighed in relief as he steered them into safety, the water level of the river increased, the freshet strong, but nothing in comparison to the force of the ocean waves. A lot of golden leaves danced along the surface, twirled around and were swept away, Jinki slowly sitting up, turning his head toward the merman. 

“Are you alright?” he asked worriedly, his clothes soaked in water, cheeks flushed from the cold and the exertion. Taemin nodded, too exhausted to form words, his pulse still thumping violently in his chest, the fear of something happening to the other so big that he wanted to bring them to the waterfall first before he could relax, his whole body tensed and alerted. Water was swooshing loudly from the top of the waterfall when they arrived, the usual soft pattering exchanged by blusterous deluges of water, leaves, and small breaches covering the pool’s surface. 

Their little hideout had changed since the first time Jinki and Taemin had shared a tent, Jinki, who was a clever and innovative person, having tried to come up with multiple ways to make life on land easier for Taemin. The small tent he had brought in the beginning stood in a corner now, filled with towels, clothes, and other necessities while the air mattress had found new housing in a far bigger tent with three rooms that could be opened at the very bottom, so Taemin could crawl inside by himself, his whole body fitting in easily. Jinki had bought it secondhand from a group of university students who had purchased it for a music festival the year before and didn’t have any use for it anymore. The mats in front of the tent Jinki had covered with big blue plastic bags, their surface so smooth that Taemin could slide over them when Jinki poured water on them. That day there was no need for extra water, Jinki quickly pulling the boat on land and turning it around before he darted over to the tent, opening it. Taemin followed him suit, lifting himself out of the water and easily glided over to the tent where a soft big towel awaited him. Jinki wrapped it around his head and patted his hair, caringly checking the merman for any injuries he might have suffered without noticing. 

“Jinki.” Taemin held onto Jinki’s wrists, looking up from underneath the towel, “I am from the sea. I am used to the water. You are more important. Your lips – they are already turning blue,” he said, noticing how much the other shivered, his arms cold, goosebumps all over his skin. 

Jinki studied him fondly, dabbing the towel against his cheek. “I forget that sometimes,” he admitted and then let go of the merman to crawl a little further inside and peel himself out of his wet clothes. The rain was loud as it hit the ceiling of the tent, Taemin leaning forward to zip up the door, his fishtail resting on black plastic. It was dark, Jinki turning on the battery-powered lamp he had fastened on the ceiling after he had taken off his raincoat, all his clothes underneath drenched in water as well, the waves having not recoiled at the sight of a simple coat. 

“The food I brought might taste of seawater now,” Jinki said, grimacing as he shrugged out of the rucksack he had carried on his back beneath the coat, water dripping from the bottom. Taemin chuckled lightly and dabbed his fishtail with the towel before he climbed on the bed and placed his head on a pillow. 

“All the better.” Taemin turned onto his side and propped himself up on one hand, watching the other curiously as he unpacked the containers he had stored in the bag, lifting the lid on each of them to check if the food was spoiled or still edible. With a hum, he placed them all in the room to his left, neatly organized by their size before he flattened the backpack on the floor to let it dry. 

“I need to go out again,” he sighed, one hand on his knee and the other tousling his hair, water dripping from the strands and falling into his face.

“Why?” Taemin’s brows furrowed.

“Dry clothes – they are in the other tent.” Jinki pulled a face and pinched his nose, turning around to reach for his raincoat again.

“I can warm you. It rains too much. Just stay.”

Jinki glanced at Taemin shortly but then agreed with a hum and let the raincoat be. Instead he began to open the buttons on his white shirt. He undressed quietly, spreading his clothes on the floor to let them dry before he slipped under the covers naked, scooting towards Taemin who naturally slung his arms around his middle when he was within reach. Smile crossing the merman’s lips he held onto the human and stroked his back, sharing his warmth. Despite them having hugged so often in the past few weeks, the sensation was still the same, Taemin not noticing any desensitization, the buzzing underneath his skin flaring up when Jinki snuggled up against his chest, one hand resting on his waist. 

“You are cold,” Taemin whispered, little drips of water falling from the other’s hair and onto his chest. Huddling closer, Jinki hummed and nuzzled his neck.

“And you are very warm.” It was a murmur, softly spoken against his skin, Taemin's body shuddering, his grip around the human tightening. Taemin was immensely thankful for having met the other, for having approached and talked to him, Jinki having him showed a world he had never imagined to discover. He had sparked feelings inside of him he hadn’t known he was capable of. For the first time in his life, he cared about someone, for the first time in his life, it wasn’t just him anymore. He had someone to _share_ memories with, someone to _make_ memories with. All the emotions humans had expressed at the bottom of the cliffs, the ones Taemin had never quite understood, had even be repulsed by, they all made sense to him now. He understood them – even if it meant that he had become as stupid as them. 

The downpour didn’t stop, lightning and thunder soon joining in, Taemin and Jinki eating dinner in their tent, both of them sitting on the mattress, the human having the blanket slung around his waist, his left leg peeking out, bare toes wiggling around.

“What are we going to do if it continues to rain?” Taemin asked as he picked up a piece of steamed eggplant which Jinki had marinated in soy sauce and garnished with sesame seeds and chopped scallions. The human had told him a lot about the world of cooking, Taemin usually forgetting about all the steps the other had taken to prepare a meal as soon as it landed in his mouth, preferring to think about the food he was eating instead of its preparation. Sea-people ate their meals raw, not bothering to cook their fish in a frying pan or season their seaweed, so it had baffled the merman how much time humans spend on cooking. To him it seemed like a waste of time even though he loved the meals Jinki brought for them to eat. 

Jinki shrugged, munching loudly on a piece of radish, lips glistening. “We stay inside I guess. I mean you can hop into the pool any time you want of course.”

Taemin nodded and picked up some braised meat, his fin happily twitching as he savored the taste, his taste buds jubilating. 

The two of them spent the majority of the evening with reading and playing simple card games Jinki had taught the merman until Taemin got bored of it and decided to take a swim in the pool shortly before the clock struck midnight. Jinki watched him from the safety of the tent, huddled up in a blanket with a warm cup of tea in his hands, raindrops drumming on the vestibule, the fabric curving, a puddle of water having formed in the middle and pulling it down.

The merman didn’t stay for long, not liking to be in the water alone while the other was in the tent, only diving around for a short while before he crawled back. Jinki gently removed leaves out of his hair and dried his upper body to then open his arms and share the blanket with him once more. The sentiments they shared were soft and sweet, Jinki kissing the tip of his nose and his closed eyelids when Taemin sat up straight, a small smile tugging at his lips. He felt safe in the other’s arms, felt understood despite the language barrier, hands stroking Jinki’s sides, savoring his warmth. 

“I am happy.” 

The words came out naturally when Jinki grazed his face with his fingers and leaned in for a kiss, the touch all too familiar now and yet incredibly exciting. 

“You are?” Jinki looked at him, eyes wandering along his face, sparkling in the shine of the lamp.

Taemin nodded. “I am happy when I am with you.”

He blinked as he held onto Jinki’s waist and memorized his features that were so different compared to his own, the shape of his eyes, of his nose, of his lips. Taemin reached up to trace them with his forefinger, the Cupid’s bow reminding him of a gentle wave during a low tide. 

“I’m happy when I’m with you too.” Taemin could feel the tension as Jinki’s lips moved, corners turned upwards, his teeth becoming visible as he spoke. 

“What are we?” Taemin’s forehead creased as he continued to look at Jinki’s lips, liking the way they pursed and puckered when he formed words with them. Tilting his head only slightly a hum left Jinki’s mouth and his hands wandered down the merman’s shoulders and his chest, stopping as they arrived at his stomach. 

“I’m not sure. What would you like us to be?” 

Taemin thought this question over, forehead deeply furrowed as he focused. The rain was distracting, preventing him from forming coherent thoughts, the drops so loud that it made it difficult to reflect. 

“I –” he paused and looked up at Jinki who patiently waited for him to speak. “I want you to be mine,” Taemin concluded, adding a soft-spoken, “I want what you had with him,” to it in an afterthought, lowering his gaze.

“Taeminnie,” Jinki said gently, hand reaching up to caress his cheek. 

“I am not naïve.” The young merman gnawed on his lower lip. “I know it will not be easy. Not like a Disney movie.” 

The sound of the rain became more intense, a loud rumbling echoing through their little haven which was followed by a stroke of lightning. Taemin nestled his cheek against Jinki’s palm, cupping the other’s face, mimicking the gesture.

“We will try?” Jinki looked at him quizzically, smiling when Taemin nodded.

“We will try,” he agreed in a soft voice and leaned forward to kiss the other, lips carefully touching and exploring, the tip of his tongue swiping along the seam, fingers grabbing Jinki’s hair, threading through the strands, scooping up the sweetest sensation bustling in his tummy with both hands, carefully pressing the human on his back to lean over and gaze at him. The human was the most beautiful being the merman had ever seen and he adored just looking at him and feeling his heartbeat quicken whenever they kissed, savoring the little sighs falling from Jinki's lips when they touched, the sound so urgent, crawling under Taemin's skin and wrapping him up in a cozy blanket. 

Weeks passed and then months, days spent with longing and nights with fervor, the soft bud of love blooming in the middle of winter, keeping the cold away as Taemin and Jinki cuddled underneath a mountain of blankets, sharing shy smiles and keen sentiments. As the trees turned bleak and the sky gray, the feelings for one another grew, the two of them discovering each other’s colorful worlds while the one around them was covered in white. It was the happiest time in Taemin’s life and he was convinced that nothing could ever change that as long as Jinki and he were together, the two of them fighting the seasons and the cold.

Everything seemed to be perfect until February approached with great strides. 

Taemin had eagerly awaited Jinki’s arrival at the cliffs, ready to head to the waterfall and huddle inside their tent, his tailfin not able to still, constantly moving as he paced around. Despite the cold, the warm glow of a first love glimmed inside of him, the world looking peaceful as it was coated in a thin layer of snow. Spotting the other already from a distance, Taemin swam towards him excitedly, a bright smile on his lips that quickly vanished as Jinki came closer, looking visibly distraught. He was wrapped up in a black winter coat which reached down to his thighs, hands hidden inside the pockets, a beanie pulled over his hair. 

“What is wrong?”

The young merman hadn’t seen the other like this in months, knowing that something was different right away. Jinki’s nose was red from the cold, small clouds escaping his lips as he breathed. 

“Taemin,” he began which made the merman halt in his movements immediately. The other hadn’t called him by his actual name in months. “I will be transferred.” 

Jinki crouched down at the edge of the rock jetty, his heavy boots leaving imprints in the snow. Taemin didn’t understand what the other was talking about, only knew that it must have been something bad, considering the look on his face, his eyes looking teary. 

“Transferred?” He swam closer and pulled himself up, his wet fingers melting the snow on the stones around him. 

“My company,” Jinki paused and flopped down to cross his legs, hands coming out of their pockets to reach out for Taemin’s. “They are closing their branch on Jeju. They gave me the choice of either losing my job or transferring to their branch in Wonju – that’s –” he pressed his lips tightly together and lowered his gaze. “It’s east of Seoul.” 

Taemin blinked at him, still not sure what the other was talking about. Jinki’s touch on his hands was almost desperate, fingers that usually calmly caressed his skin now stroking up and down his knuckles, quivering. 

“I am not sure I understand,” the merman pointed out, searching for answers in the other’s lowered face. He shrunk back with a gasp when Jinki looked up at him again and he saw tears in his eyes, one sneakily rolling down his cheek. 

“I’m leaving Taemin. I’m leaving Jeju. I can’t come here anymore. I can’t come to the cliffs anymore,” Jinki explained, his voice hoarse, sounding hurt. The merman’s eyes widened and his first reaction was to pull his hands back and move a few meters away, a feeling he hadn’t experienced in so long creeping up his gullet. 

“No,” he whispered to himself, his voice drowned out by the sound of the waves splashing against the shore. In all this time they had spent together, Taemin had not once thought about the possibility of Jinki leaving the island to move somewhere else, reality crushing over him like a tidal wave. He heard the rush of the waves in his ears, Jinki’s voice calling for him sounding miles away, a muffled, low sound that barely reached him. His head was empty, carried off by the ocean, his body feeling like it didn’t belong to him anymore, floating in the water without purpose.

“Taemin, please.” 

Taemin blinked, idly turning his head into the direction he heard the voice coming from, Jinki kneeling now with his hands placed on the stones.

“Take me with you.” They were the only words he managed to speak and for the first time in his life, he felt the cold of the water engulfing him, making it harder for him to breathe. 

“I can't. That’s impossible, Taemin.” 

_Impossible_ , it was a word the young merman had learned to hate. Until he had met the human nothing had seemed to be impossible for him, but by now he had been confronted with it so often that it had lost its impact, it was just another word that meant nothing. 

“If you really wanted to, you would take me with you.”

A wave carried him closer to the shore again and Taemin could see the pain in the other's face, but why was he the one in pain? He wasn’t the one who would be abandoned and left behind like a food container, ready to be swallowed by the sea and sink to the ground. 

“Taeminnie, come on. You don’t make any sense. Do you know how far away this city is from here?” 

Clouds swirled in front of his mouth and ascended to the sky, Jinki’s face reddening further. 

“I can swim there.” 

“That’s way too dangerous. Please be reasonable.”

Every word that left Jinki’s mouth added another scratch to Taemin’s heart, syllables so pointed that they carved through it like a knife. Maybe it was the same knife that Ariel had received to kill the prince and Taemin would end up turning into foam by sunrise because his heart had been broken by a human. 

“So you are reasonable?” he asked with hurt in his voice. “Leaving me here – is reasonable? Coming here –” Taemin had to pause as he tears began to fill his eyes. “Coming here and making me like you, only to leave me again – like I am not worth anything? This is reasonable to you?” 

Tears dropped into the sea and Taemin clenched his fists, irritation boiling up inside of him. His kind had been right all along, humans were disgusting, not worthy of their time, cruel creatures who put their own needs first, thinking about no one but themselves, seeing themselves as the center of the world. Egoistic and selfish they called everything their own without paying any attention to their surroundings.

“Taemin, I don’t have a choice. This is my job, my career – I need that money.” 

Blood rushed up to Taemin’s head and instead of pain all he could fathom now was anger. He was angry at himself for having been so trusting, for having believed in anything the human had told him. Humans were vile, the elders had been right about that all along and Taemin had just been too blinded by a few kind gestures to see their true nature.

“It is always about that money. If you wanted to be with me money would not be important.” 

The young merman yelled now, fishtail frantically moving inside the water, the vein in his neck protruding. He was too proud to be treated like this, his temperament becoming rampant as he shot forward, dove down into the water, and splashed water into the human’s direction with his fishtail. When he came up again the other was dripping wet, hands wiping his face.

“Taemin, please. Let’s talk normally.”

Taemin could see the other shake, but he had enough of the talking that humans always did, didn’t want to talk anymore, his heart torn in two and beyond repair. He shook his head vehemently, took a run to splash another load of water into the human’s face who only rose his hands but didn’t even attempt to dodge the other’s attack.

“Taemin,” was all he said repeatedly, his name the last thing the young merman wanted to hear now. Coming up he flashed his eyes at the human who had betrayed him.

“Leave. Just leave. I do not want to see you anymore,” was the last thing he shouted at the other, his voice never having been that loud and tinged with so much hurt. He dove into the sea and left, swam as quickly as he had never done before, wanting to get away from the anger and frustration that were eating him alive, snapping their angry teeth at him, eyes burning as tears welled up. Taemin had lost control over place and time and just swam and swam, never turning back, the human’s voice echoing in his head. He wanted to get away from it, but no matter how far he swam, it followed him like a shadow. 

It was past midnight when he finally paused and looked around, nothing but water and sand around him. Taemin arose from the water to breathe, the coast of Jeju nowhere in sight. The moon was high up in the sky, casting its soft glow onto the water. Slowly, the tension he held in his shoulders left and with every steady sloshing of the waves his anger was carried away, making space for a feeling he had tried to suppress ever since he had left the coast. Sorrow overwhelmed him, pushed him down, suffocated him, and he powerlessly sank to the ocean’s floor, his fishtail swirling up the sand as it touched it. So far out in the open, he was defenseless, easy prey for any predator, but looking for protection was the last thing on Taemin’s mind as he lay there and stared up at the surface of the water, feeling like his heart had been pierced with something sharp. 

For once in his life, he had been happy, but he shouldn’t have trusted this feeling, the sensation having been too good to be true. Fingers combed through the sand, tiny corns trickling down his hand, falling back to the ocean’s floor. All the promises the human had made were nothing but empty words, Taemin’s mind involuntarily replaying all the memories they had made together, from the first time they had met until now, Taemin wanting to forget all of them. His eyes fell onto the bracelet the human had tied around his wrist months ago, the only one Taemin hadn’t dared to exchange for a new one. He ripped it apart, the little cowries falling soundlessly into the sand, the thread holding them together floating aimlessly through the water. 

He didn’t return to the coast of Jeju for days, decided to relocate and reside near an unhabituated bleak little island several miles away instead, the island consisting of nothing but stones, no sand, no grass, no life. His heart was empty and his body lethargic, eyes staring into nothingness as he sat on the stones, his fishtail in the water. Not even seagulls came out to hunt out here, a small piece of land in the middle of nowhere. 

It took two weeks until Taemin finally decided to swim back to Jeju though he didn’t know why, there was nothing of importance for him there, just memories of a human he wanted to forget. The rubber boat was gone when he arrived at the cliffs, a constricting feeling spreading inside of him. He kept watching for unwelcomed company and only got closer when he was sure that no one was in sight. Taemin visited Byeol, the little starfish residing at his usual spot near the cliffs, but even his presence wasn’t able to cheer the merman up. The place was jinxed, all the happy times he had spent there overshadowed by anguish. His spot at the cliffs, the one he had liked the most in the world, was not his anymore, every stone reminding him of the human. 

When he came up to the surface the sun was high in the sky but obscured by a mist that wafted over the sea. Taemin touched the flagstones, remembered how the human had kissed him there for the first time, a painful twinge tugging at his chest. Not bearing to stay any longer he turned around and dove back down, his fishtail swiftly bringing him to the waterfall. The merman was sure that the sight of the waterfall would be even worse, but he wanted to grab his small little treasures from the cave to set off and find another home, a place that was far away and wouldn’t remind him of the human who had broken his heart. He wanted a fresh start, wanted to go back to being a merman – _just a merman_ , and not someone who pretended to be someone he wasn’t. There wouldn’t ever be two legs on his body, so there was no need for him to act like someone who was carried through life on a pair of them. 

The camp at the waterfall was untouched, the tents and everything else they had carried here still in place, but there was a small difference that almost got unnoticed by the merman; a silver suitcase placed right next to the pool, as if its owner had wanted to make it easy to reach for someone inside of it. Taemin hesitated, looked around for any sign of life, but the human was nowhere to be found. Wavering for a while he stared at the suitcase from a safe distance, only half of his head peeking out as he glanced at it, wondering about its contents. His curiosity got the best out of him eventually and he swam to the other side of the pool, opening it carefully, weirdly afraid that something might jump out as soon as he opened the lid. But instead of a wild animal, he looked at dozens of packages filled with different sweets, all of them favorites of his. On top of it lay an envelope, the merman turning it around in his hand with wet fingers, dampening it. When he carefully opened it, a photo fell out along with a piece of neatly folded paper. Looking at the photo made his breath hitch and his heart pumped quicker in his chest, his fin edgily wiggling in the water, his ingrained flight reflex wanting him to leave. He picked the photo up carefully, which showed him and the human smiling happily at the camera, the human’s arm wrapped around him, holding him close, their heads touching. The contrast between their physical nature them seemed so big, but Taemin had never noticed it before. To him they had always felt the same, two grains of sand lying together on the ocean’s floor. 

He blinked and put his photo away, its presence only serving to let unwelcomed feelings resurface. The white paper was covered in letters, Taemin overwhelmed by their sight. Every black letter was written down meticulously so the merman would be able to read it, but Taemin wasn’t sure if he wanted to read it at all. He took a deep breath before he tried to focus on the letters, pulling them together to form words, his mouth mimicking the sounds as his finger underlined each of them to reveal the message written with black ink, which smudged whenever Taemin touched the paper by accident, the black bleeding further into the paper making some of the letters unreadable. 

> _My dear Taeminnie,_
> 
> _I’m so sorry. I truly am. I didn’t want to upset you and I certainly didn’t want to hurt you. I didn’t expect you to just leave. I came to the cliffs and the waterfalls every day in the hope you would show yourself, but you didn’t come. I hope you are okay and will eventually find this letter. I have to leave tomorrow, but I will try to come back, okay? Please believe me. I’ll try. Don’t give up on me yet – on us._
> 
> _Jinki_

Taemin’s head hurt when his finger hovered underneath the last word, nail scratching at the ink, smearing it, wanting it to disappear. _Jinki_. After learning how to write his own name, Taemin had insisted on learning how to write the human’s, writing it down dozens of times, now regretting ever having memorized it. What was he supposed to do with an ‘ _I will try’_? There was no substance to it, no determination. ‘ _I will come back’_ would have given Taemin a spark of confidence, a piece of driftwood he could cling to during a storm, but the word ‘ _try’_? It was an empty promise given to lull him into a false sense of hope. If the other had cared enough he wouldn’t have left, he would have stayed with him. That’s what humans did. If they liked one another – they stayed together. Was it different because he was a merman? Was he not worthy of happiness? Had he been a mere animal to the other after all?

Crumpling up the piece of paper Taemin threw the letter away and watched it land near the tent in a puddle of water. With an exhausted sigh, he sank to the ground of the pool and closed his eyes, wanting to disappear from the face of the earth. Life without the human was miserable, but what was the human’s attention worth if it had been so easy for the other to leave him behind? Taemin struggled with his credibility as a merman, wanted to be the proud and dauntless being from the sea. He wanted to be someone who wasn’t affected by feelings, whose emotions were always controlled, whose brain dictated his actions and not his heart. Humans thought with their hearts, not the sea-folk. But if he only used his brain to make decisions, why was it that after two weeks his chest still felt tight whenever he thought of the human? 

When he came up to breath it was already dark, owls flying through the night sky, their call resonanting through the area, the wind blowing through the leafless trees, branches cracking. Taemin looked after them, wondering what it must feel like to have wings. The possibilities seemed endless, wings appearing to be far less limiting than a fishtail was. He swam out to collect seaweed in the ocean; some to eat and some to weave into a bag to carry his treasures in. Making one last stop at the pool he pulled himself out of it, hesitated for a moment before he crawled over to the tent which seemed cold and empty without the human waiting for him inside. Taemin hadn’t imagined it to be so hard to be inside the tent, memories flashing up in front of his eyes, the human’s laughter echoing in his ears. The smell inside the tent he had instinctively connected with the human, everything reminding him of him. He let himself fall onto the mattress, and buried his face into the pillow, breathing in deeply, his heart fluttering. Without the other even being there, his presence still lingered, in the creases of the pillow, in the single pebbles on the floor, in the books lying around, one of them opened, showing a photo of a giraffe; majestic animals with endless limbs dipped in bright, salient colors. It felt suffocating to rest on the air mattress and yet oddly nostalgic. 

Taemin sat up to eat some of the seaweed while he crafted a bag out of the rest, his fingers knotting the single weeds swiftly together, adding a carrying strap at the end so he could pull it over his shoulder. He left the tent as soon as he was finished, not bearing to stay for longer than necessary. After cramming the lunchboxes into his bag he slung it over his shoulder and swam determinedly towards the stream leading to the ocean, but paused when he reached it. He faltered, resistance rising in the tip of his fishtail, and he turned around to cast one last glance at the camp, which he had called home for so long, but didn’t feel like home anymore. It pained him to leave this place, but he knew that waiting for something – or rather someone who might never return to him again would be far more painful. _If you love someone let them go. If they return to you it was meant to be. If they don’t, their love was never yours, to begin with._ The human’s love had never been his, Taemin realized. A human and a merman weren’t destined to be together. Taemin’s gaze fell onto the silver suitcase and stayed on it for a while, his body moving forward, fingers flipping the suitcase back open to grab a few of the snacks and stuff them into his bag. His hand drifted over the photo lying on top of a chocolate bar and in a moment of weakness he grabbed both; the chocolate bar and the photo. 

With a heavy heart, he left the waterfall in an attempt to run away from his feelings, needing time to be able to return to the person he used to be. His fishtail moved idly through the water as if it didn’t want to carry him, Taemin closing his eyes as he tried to speed up and broke through the waves. His heart beat quickly in his chest as he swam east with the intention to reach the coast of Japan. It would be a dangerous journey, but there was nothing for him to lose, no family he would leave behind, no one who would care enough to miss him if he was gone. Telling Byeol goodbye he turned his back on Jeju, not wanting to return until his instincts gave him no other choice. 

Maybe, just like the little Mermaid, he would turn to foam eventually.


	6. Chapter 6

“I really like you Hanako. Maybe – be with me?” 

A single cherry blossom petal swirled through the air and landed on Taemin’s shoulder, the young merman looking at it and blowing it away as he huddled behind a rock, eavesdropping on a conversation that was hard for him to follow. He took a peek when there was no reply only to see two young people kiss each other, both of them wearing school uniforms, the girl having a black leather briefcase sitting in her lap. It was an awkward kiss, clumsy and inelegant, but Taemin still kept looking, his heart aching at the thought of what kissing had felt like to him in the past.

Months hadn’t improved anything about the ache in his chest – nor had a year. Seasons had come and gone, Taemin’s feelings staying unchanged. There was a twitching in his fin that he had tried to ignore for days now, knowing what it meant, but not wanting to give in, trying to fight nature's call. Spring had arrived and while his heart had been too occupied with pain to follow his instincts the previous year, the urge to swim back to Jeju Island was now worse than it had ever been. Electricity was in the water, animals coming together, humans coming together, sea people coming together, their minds muddled, carnal desires predominating reason. 

Taemin looked after the humans longingly as they left hand in hand and glanced at each other shyly. He envied them. He envied them for having found a partner. As hard as the merman had tried to use logic over emotion, he hadn’t managed to shut his screaming heart, the feelings of anger and betrayal, which had accompanied him when he had left Jeju Island, gradually having turned into feelings of longing. The merman couldn’t escape the nature of sea people although he knew that in the end, he wouldn’t find a mermaid to copulate with, he never would, having no desire to do so, but the pull to go back to where he was born was too strong as to ignore it forever. 

He held onto his last bit of willpower for another week before the pull in his fishtail overpowered him and he packed his self-made bag and left to go home – whatever home was now. On his way to Japan he had been attacked by a tiger shark, the traces forever visible on his body, deep pinkish marks where the predator had tried to bite his shoulder, and a piece of his tailfin missing where it had managed to get him. Taemin had been able to shake him off eventually, lucky that the blood pouring from his shoulder hadn’t attracted even more sharks. On his way back to Jeju Island he was more careful, only swimming during the day, trying to find small islands to rest during the night. 

The journey took four days, anticipation, and refusal spreading through his limbs as he caught sight of the island from afar and he realized that nothing had changed at all and yet everything was different. Although pheromones wafted through the sea and Taemin could sense them, they left him unaffected. He looked for Byeol but couldn’t find the little starfish, his heart sinking when he realized that even the last constant in his life had left him. The cliffs were unoccupied, glittering in the late afternoon sun, no lovers declaring their love to each other at the bottom. 

He pulled himself out of the water to settle down on the natural rock jetty, enjoying the prickling sensation as the sun dried his skin. There were so many memories attached to this place that were hard to fathom, Taemin’s fingers running along the stones, feeling their warmth, every single one of them able to tell stories about all the lovers who had come down the cliffs to confess. 

The sun began to set when Taemin noticed a fisher boat at the horizon come closer at a steady speed, the merman mechanically slipping back into the water to hide behind a boulder. It was unusual for fisher boats to drive so close along the cliffs, the harbor being on the other side of the island. But who knew what had happened in all the time he had been gone. The roaring of the engine could be heard from afar, getting louder and louder until it suddenly cut off with a rattling noise, the lack of movement making Taemin frown curiously. Waves crashed steadily against the shore, the merman observing the white little boat, which looked battered and shabby, lacquer flaked off, the railing rusty. 

Taemin wanted to be left alone and bath in the last rays of sunshine, not in the mood to share the cliffs with a fisherman. He looked up when he saw a person step out of the cabin on board, body hidden in shadows. The merman expected the person to do a lot of things but not to jump into the water and swim over, his body instantly ducking away, not wanting to get caught. He only came up after a while, wanting to know who had disturbed his first peaceful evening at home, breath getting caught in his lungs when his eyes fell on an all too familiar figure. The shoulders were a little broader, the muscles in the arms a little more prominent, but the silhouette couldn’t be mistaken, the body too ingrained in Taemin’s head as to be forgotten in a year. 

The human sat at the tip of the rock jetty in just a pair of blue swimming trunks, hair pitch black and combed out of his face, his legs crossed as he ate his dinner, Taemin recognizing the smell of roasted beef immediately, his mouth beginning to water. His brain couldn’t grasp the concept of seeing the other again, to witness him breathe and move and exist right in front of his eyes and not just in his memories and dreams. Holding onto the rocks in front of him, Taemin watched him silently, not knowing how to react. When did the other come back? What was he doing on a boat? Did he come back to the cliffs every night in the hope Taemin would return eventually? The merman's heart drummed loudly in his chest, his fishtail twitching with urgency, need pulling in the depth of his tummy. He clawed his nails into the rocks, broke off the smallest pieces, his eyes falling on a bracelet on the human’s arm. Contrary to Taemin, the human hadn’t taken off his bracelet and still wore it, still carrying a piece of the merman with him. 

The sun made the small driblets of water shimmer on the human’s tanned skin and Taemin's fingers trembled, the smallest of fires flaring up in the pits of his stomach, sparking a sensation he hadn’t experienced in so long. His brain told him to stay hidden and forget all about the human, who had abandon him so easily, but his heart shouted at him to come out of hiding and reveal himself to the other. In a moment of negligence, Taemin gripped the rocks too forcefully and snapped off a bigger portion, the piece of rock dropping into the sea with a loud plop, the merman blinking when the human’s head turned around and their eyes met for the first time in so long. Several things happened all at once, the container with food falling onto the stones, the human calling out the merman’s name in shock, and Taemin diving down with a quickly beating heart, too stunned by the emotions drumming down on him after hearing his name being spoken out loud. 

There was a splash and when Taemin looked for the source of the sound he saw the human pedaling as he tried to keep himself underwater. The merman wanted to flee and escape, but couldn’t. He was glued to the spot, not able to move, numbed by the other’s presence, his eyes fixed on the human who swam over to him, heart knocking violently against his chest, wanting to break out. 

A hand touched his arm and sent off sparks inside of him, the sensation so raw, so real, and so intense. Fingertips ran over the scars on his shoulder, concern washing over the human’s features. The merman let it all happen, hypnotized. He saw lips form the words ‘Come up’, and fingers point to the surface, but he didn’t react, was transfixed with shock, only a hand persistently tugging at his wrist finally able to coax him into following the human. When they broke through the water Taemin didn’t have time to prepare himself for what happened next, the human slinging his arms and legs around him, the merman so startled that they almost drowned, his instincts having to kick in to make his tailfin sway from left to right to keep them above water. 

“Taemin.” There was his name again, softly spoken but with an unknown urgency. “Taemin – oh my god.” Every part of his body was ablaze, fire licking his skin and burning him wherever their bodies touched. “Taeminnie – you are back.” 

It felt like they had never parted, their bodies fitting perfectly together, the human’s touch still sending the same exhilarating sensations down his spine despite Taemin’s unwillingness to accept them. 

“I was so worried – oh god, I was so worried about you.” 

The other’s voice sounded choked up, fingers digging into his nape, nose burying into his neck, Taemin’s arms hanging down inside the water with no place to go.

“Why were you worried?”

They were the first words he had spoken since he had left Jeju, his lips and tongue rebelling against having to form into such an unnatural shape, his mouth not used to communicating verbally anymore. 

A chuckle, low and comforting echoed in his ears, the vibration making his skin shiver, water sloshing calmly against their bodies, the sea symbolizing the complete opposite of what he felt inside. 

“Taeminnie, you were gone – for such a long time.”

The human straightened up, dark eyes looking at him, scanning his features, fingertips brushing strands of hair out of his face very tenderly as if the human didn’t want to break him. 

“You were gone first. You left me.” 

Taemin’s throat tightened and he could feel tears welling up inside of him, erupting from the deepest part of his heart. 

“I know, Taemin. I know.” Fingertips grazed his cheeks, caressed his skin and he wanted to push the other off, wanted to swim away, but he couldn’t, his body absorbing the other’s warmth, and losing himself in the sensation of being close to the human again after being apart for so long, the longing for physical contact overpowering his senses, robbing him of any will to flee. 

“I know Taeminnie,” the human reiterated, hand wandering down his neck and settling on his shoulder. “And I will regret that for the rest of my life. As soon as I had left I regretted it already, please believe that.” 

The human swallowed hard, Adam’s apple bobbing. Taemin wanted to kiss it, lean forward, tilt his head and press his mouth against it, wanted to feel the other's strong pulse under his lips, feelings from the past resurfacing and dancing around in his head, letting him remember all the good things that had happened to him, the beautiful memories he had made with the human.

“Why did you not come back?” Taemin blinked, eyes gazing at the human clinging onto him inside the ocean, the water around them sparkling in the light of the setting sun. 

“I did,” the human said, voice louder now, posture upright. “I came back, but you were gone. I’ve been coming here every night for over a year, Taeminnie. I just – I hoped that you would come back. Eventually. One day.” 

The thought that Taemin had spent a year at the coast of another country to escape his broken heart while the other had waited for him all this time was almost unbearable. He had spent nights looking at the photo he had taken with him in moments of weakness, thinking about what he had lost and that he would never trust another human again only for the human who had hurt him to sit down at the cliffs hundreds of miles away and wait for him every day.

“I do not –” Taemin paused and licked his lips with a scowl, “I do not know what to say.” 

“Where have you been?” 

“Japan.” 

The human’s eyes wandered down to his shoulder, fingertips brushing over his scars.

“You got hurt.” 

“A shark,” Taemin commented briefly, his body trembling underneath the touch. Something inside of him didn’t want to give in to the sensations bellowing inside of him and tried to remind him that people from the sea used their brain and not their heart to make decisions. 

The human’s head turned to the shore. “Sit with me? So we can talk?” 

“I –”

“Please,” the human insisted, fingertips wandering lower, disappearing underneath the water, crawling down his forearm until they reached his hand. The human let go of him then, the grip around his waist loosening. Taemin looked after him, saw him swim towards the rock jetty, and pull himself out of the water. 

Taemin didn’t want to but his fishtail moved on its own accord, setting the merman into motion and before he knew it he found himself sitting next to the human, feeling like only a day had passed since they had last sat next to each other on the stones, bathing in the evening light, rice, beef, and kimchi lying next to his fin. He couldn’t help but pick a piece of meat up, his heart fluttering in his chest as the juicy taste filled his mouth. 

“I can’t believe you are back.” The human sat in front of him with crossed legs, hand hesitantly reaching out to touch Taemin’s fingers lying spread out on the warm stones. 

“It is my nature. We always come back to where we were born,” Taemin said pragmatically, not wanting to give the other the feeling that he had come back for him. His pride was in the way. The human nodded understandingly and then picked up his deserted lunchbox to fill it with the pieces of beef lying around and give it to Taemin.

“So you didn’t look for me?” he asked in a soft voice, gaze lowered as Taemin held the container indecisively in both hands. He wanted to use his favorite word and answer him with ‘No’, but couldn’t bring himself to say it, the look on the other’s face reminding him of the first time they had met and how heartbroken the human had been. He placed the lunchbox aside and reached for one of the containers in his bag to carefully pull out the photo he had carried around for so long. It had suffered quite a bit from living inside the container, the material not water-proof, letting the paper become wavy with time, a tear visible at one of the edges, dirt having scratched parts of the surface.

“You took it with you?” There was a soft smile on the human’s lips and he reached forward, taking the photo into his hands, “I thought you might have thrown it away as you did with the letter.” 

“You have been to the waterfalls?”

The human tilted his head and looked at him with one eye closed, a cheeky grin on his lips. “Of course, Taeminnie. I still sleep there sometimes.”

The merman was visibly surprised and he looked over to the ocean, his eyes falling onto the fisher boat swaying gently in the water. 

“Is that yours?” 

A light nod. “Yes. I live on it now. I sold most of the stuff I had so I could buy it. I’ve kind of become a fisherman.” The human scratched his head sheepishly when Taemin looked at him.

“Why?”

“I told you I would come up with a solution,” he said, his thumb trying to clean the dirty surface of the photo, “A boat as a living and working space was the best option I could come up with. It’s not much. The cabin is super small and the bed not very comfortable, but it’s enough.” 

Taemin’s forehead creased and he cocked his head, not quite understanding why the human had given up the luxury of a bed and a house in an exchange for an old, rusty boat. So all he could do was to ask for the ‘why’ again, his tailfin twitching when the other began to laugh. He had missed hearing that sound.

“Taeminnie. You don’t know why I did this? Come on.” The words sounded playful, almost teasing, the human’s hand tugging a strand of hair behind Taemin’s ear, “You live inside the water. Sadly, I can’t live in it, but the next best thing I can do is to live on the water, no? I can accompany you wherever you want to go now. That’s what you wished for, right?” 

The merman was speechless, staring at the human in shock, imagining all the possibilities. He wouldn’t have to leave anymore, he could stay with Taemin. A twinge of hope gnawed at his heart, wanted to be acknowledged and celebrated, but a cloak of doubt layered on top of it, making him question the other’s intentions.

“Why are you doing this?” 

“Because I want to be with you,” the human answered him right away, the straightforwardness of the other’s words a shock. 

“But I am not human.”

“And I am not a merman,” he shrugged and got up, “Don’t go away, okay? I’ll be right back.” 

With that, the human jumped into the water and swam towards the boat, Taemin looking after him, not knowing what to do. He hadn't thought that he would ever see Jinki again, but now both of them were back where they had first met, the view and their hearts unchanged, the scenery as beautiful as Taemin remembered it. He kept his eyes glued to the human as he ate the beef, too afraid that the other might disappear again if he looked somewhere else. When he came back he carried a small box in his hand, water dripping down his skin as he climbed out of the ocean. He combed his hair back and sat back down in front of Taemin with a smile, one so sweet and infectious that it was hard not to mimic it.

“I wanted to give this to you. You always liked pretty, sparkly things, right? I hoped that I would get the chance to give it to you one day,” the human said and opened the small box in his hand, revealing a white gold ring with a big amethyst sitting in the middle framed by smaller aquamarine stones which run around the ring, “Blue for the ocean and purple for you.” 

Taemin was mesmerized by the sparkling of the ring and was sure that he had never seen any prettier jewelry in his life.

“For me?” 

He held his hand against his chest, heart thumping loudly. Taemin had seen so many humans sit here at the bottom of the cliffs receiving rings, but not once had he imagined that he would be given one himself one day, wondering if this particular ring was enchanted as well and would bind him to the human for the rest of his life if he accepted it. 

“Of course. If you want it, it’s yours.” 

“I want it,” Taemin said hastily, the stones glittering beautifully in the evening sun. He shivered when the human took his hand and carefully slipped it on his ring finger. A perfect fit. Thumb sweeping over the big stone in the middle he looked up at Taemin, head cocked.

“Do you want me too or just the ring?” he asked, insecurity ringing in his voice. 

Taemin knew what to say, the words at the tip of his tongue, heart trembling as he looked at the human he hadn’t seen in so long. His instincts had brought him here, but it was his heart that would make him stay.

“You too.” 

The merman couldn’t remember ever seeing Jinki smile so brightly, eyes almost disappearing as the corners of his lips curled upwards. At last, Taemin cupped the human's face in his hands to caress his cheeks, nose, chin, and mouth before he leaned forward to press their foreheads together. It was the highest form of intimacy shown between sea-people, a sign that they were one, that Jinki was part of his family now. Energy pulsated through his veins, gathering in the depth of his tummy and at the tips of his fingers, a warm glow covering their bodies as he whispered, “You are mine for now and forever.” 

“Forever,” came the soft-spoken reply, Taemin smiling at his human, touching his face, never wanting to part again, his lips searching the other’s for a kiss to seal their eternal bond.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! ❤ 
> 
> [lala_pipo carrd](https://lalapipo.carrd.co)


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